Europe stocks up, Asia down after Wall Street drop

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Hong Kong • Stock markets edged up in Europe and Wall Street was expected to rise on the open Friday, as investors look past the previous day's sharp losses and await new U.S. economic indicators. Asian benchmarks closed lower.

KEEPING SCORE: Germany's DAX rose 0.1 percent to 9,517.84 while France's CAC 30 gained 0.7 percent to 4,387.13. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.1 percent to 6,648.01. U.S. stocks were set for gains, with Dow futures adding 0.2 percent and S&P 500 futures up 0.1 percent.

ASIA'S DAY: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 led most Asian benchmarks lower, falling 0.9 percent to close at 16,229.86. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.1 percent to 2,031.64 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.4 percent to 23,678.41. The Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.1 percent to 2,347.72. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.3 percent to 5,321.00. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Singapore and New Zealand also slipped.

GERMAN, U.S. DATA: Investor sentiment was briefly weighed down by a survey that found consumer confidence in Germany, Europe's largest economy, fell further on concern about the Ukraine conflict and broader weakness on the continent. Investors soon turned their attention to bigger data releases on the U.S., the world's top economy, later in the day, when the government releases its final estimate of U.S economic growth for the April-June quarter. That is accompanied by the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for September.

ANALYST TAKE: Gary Yau, from Credit Agricole CIB, says that while the U.S. economic growth figure is likely to be revised up, that is unlikely to give a big boost to stock markets after a week of high volatility. "Cautious trading will likely prevail on the last day of the week," he said.

CURRENCIES: The dollar strengthened to 109.10 yen from 108.56 yen in late trading Thursday. The euro fell to $1.2729 from $1.2760.

ENERGY: Benchmark crude oil for November delivery rose 49 cents to $93.02 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile exchange. The contract fell 27 cents to close at $92.53 on Thursday.