Asian stocks tick down despite Wall Street's rally; Dollar and Yen weaken

Asian markets are going through minor losses on Friday, Index closing above 10,000 points for the second day in a row, although losses were softened by oil prices jump above $78 a barrel. Euro and Pound hold gains at high levels.

Japanese Nikkei Index edges down 0.1%, while South Korean Kospi index Index dips 0.5% and Hong Kong Hang Seng Index ticks up 0.1%. Markets in China Australia and Singapore have also gone lower.

Losses in stock markets have been curtailed by oil prices, which rose to levels above $78 a barrel, giving a boost to energy stocks.

Euro and Pound hold gains

EUR/USD rally from Monday's low at 1.4675 extended on Thursday to a fresh year to date high at 1.4965, and the pair has remained trading in a range from 1.4900 to the mentioned year high, which has been tested twice. At the moment of writing, the Euro trades around 1.4920.

GBP/USD rally from 1.5705 low on Tuesday has extended on Friday above 1.6300 to a fresh 3 weeks high at 1.6400 before easing somewhat to levels around 1.6355 at the monment of writing.

USD/JPY rebound from 88.80 low on Wednesday reached on Thursday a fresh 3-weeks high at 90.75, and continued crawling higher during Asian session times to reach a fresh high at 91.00, which is being tested at the moment.