Summary Shanghai .SSEC lost 0.4 percent, while South Korea's Kospi .KS11 inched down 0.1 percent
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian stocks were subdued on Friday as caution over a weekend meeting of oil producers tempered risk sentiment, while the region s markets took China s relatively upbeat GDP data in stride.
Japan s Nikkei .N225 was down 0.3 percent, while Australian shared edged up 0.4 percent . Other modest gainers included Malaysian and Indonesian stocks.
Shanghai .SSEC lost 0.4 percent, while South Korea s Kospi .KS11 inched down 0.1 percent.
MSCI s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.1 percent. The index has gained about 3.5 percent on the week during which it hit a five-month high, helped by a slight thaw in pessimism over the Chinese economy and an earlier surge in crude oil prices.
Stocks have gained globally this week against this backdrop, with the S&P 500 .SPX reaching its highest point so far this year overnight, and taking it a step closer to record highs scaled almost a year ago.
China s economy grew 6.7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, meeting expectations and providing additional evidence that a slowdown in the world s second largest economy may be bottoming out.
"There are a lot who doubt the current market rally at the moment, particularly when the S&P 500 is so close to its all-time highs," wrote Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG in Melbourne.
"And yet, in a world where one-third of government bonds have negative yields, there is a strong incentive to increase one s equity allocation in pursuit of positive returns."
Oil prices have pulled back from recent peaks on concerns that the top producers meeting may not result in a tightening of supply. [O/R]
U.S. crude oil CLc1 was up 5 cents at $41.54 a barrel, but still off a 4-1/2-month peak above $42 reached mid-week when market hopes were higher that the Doha producers meeting would result in tighter supply. Brent crude rose 4 cents to $43.88 a barrel LCOc1.
The dollar, which had gained broadly this week as risk appetite improved, stalled against the euro after Thursday s data showed U.S. consumer prices rose less than expected in March.
The euro traded little changed at $1.1261 EUR=, nudged away from a two-week low of $1.1234 plumbed earlier on Thursday.
The dollar touched a one-week high of 109.74 yen. The greenback stood comfortably above a near 18-month trough of 107.63 struck on Monday.
Sterling was steady at $1.4146 GBP=D4, moving away from an overnight low of $1.4091 after Bank of England policymakers voted 9-0 to keep interest rates at a record low of 0.5 percent, quashing speculation that one or more members could vote to cut rates.
The pound was also pressured earlier on Thursday after a YouGov poll was the latest to show Britain split down the middle on June s referendum on whether to leave the European Union.
The Australian dollar, buoyant through much of the week thanks to a bounce in commodities, fell back from a nine-month peak of $0.7737 reached overnight and last traded at $0.7709 AUD=D4.
The Aussie, often used as a proxy of China-related trades, showed little reaction to Friday s Chinese GDP numbers.
