FROM MORRISON SECURITIES PTY. LTD:

U.S. STOCK MARKETS

Solid quarterly results from consumer-oriented stocks including Amazon.com sent stocks higher Friday, pushing benchmarks to their biggest weekly advance since mid-March.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 23.69 points, or 0.18%, to 13228.31, and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index advanced 3.38 points, or 0.24%, to 1403.36. Both rose for the fourth session in a row and recorded their biggest weekly gains since March 16.

The Dow rose 1.5% during the week, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.8%, Friday's trading pushed Dow industrials into positive territory for the month. Should the 0.1% gain hold through Monday, blue chips would finish April with their seventh straight monthly advance, the longest streak in five years.

The Nasdaq Composite added 18.59 points, or 0.61%, to 3069.20 Friday and climbed 2.3% during the week, its biggest weekly rise in nearly three months.

Consumer-discretionary stocks led Friday's gains. Amazon soared 16% to $226.85 after the online retailer reported first-quarter revenue jumped 34%.

Expedia jumped 24% to 40.31, and hit an all-time high after the online travel agent booked better-than-forecast first-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue.

Not all reports were met with cheers. Procter & Gamble fell 3.6% to 64.44 after the consumer-goods company topped fiscal third-quarter earnings estimates but came up short of revenue forecasts.

The company also provided a fourth-quarter outlook that was below projections. Investors shrugged off a downbeat first-quarter economic-growth report. The Commerce Department's first reading on gross domestic product, a broad measure of all the goods and services produced in the economy, was lower than expected.

EUROPEAN STOCK MARKETS

Most European stock markets closed with weekly gains Friday, after data showed consumer spending picked up in the U.S., while a well-received Italian auction calmed investor nerves, following a double-notch downgrade of Spain's credit rating.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.8% to 259.12, gaining for a fourth consecutive day. The index posted a 0.5% weekly gain. Swedish engineering group Sandvik AB was among biggest advancers, rallying 12.5% after a record-high order intake for first quarter while profit beat market expectations.

The Italian government sold EUR5.95 billion of various maturity bonds, close to the top end of its target range. Borrowing costs for the 10-year bonds, however, rose to 5.84% from 5.24% in a March 29 sale.

The FTSE MIB index climbed 1.9% to 14,778.90, with Banca Popolare di Milano Scarl gaining 6.9%. Spain was in the spotlight after Standard & Poor's cut its long-term sovereign credit rating to BBB+ from A with a negative outlook.

The IBEX 35 index, however, followed its European peers higher and closed up 1.7% at 7,145.80. The French CAC 40 index was 1.1% higher at 3,266.27 buoyed by drug maker Sanofi.

Its shares rose 2.5% after first-quarter earnings jumped 50%, beating expectations. Banks also gained ground, with Societe Generale SA up 3.1% and Credit Agricole SA up 4.5%.

German banks followed the broader European trend. Commerzbank AG added 2.7%, while Deutsche Bank AG gained 0.9%. The DAX 30 index gained 0.9% to 6,801.32, finding additional support from pharmaceutical firm Bayer AG, which rose 3.1%.

The U.K. FTSE 100 index closed 0.5% higher at 5,777.11, as Barclays PLC advanced 4.7%. Bank executives apologized at an annual meeting for the bank's pay policies and said pay levels must be pushed lower. HSBC Holdings PLC rose 1.2%, while Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC increased 3.3%.

ASIA-PACIFIC STOCK MARKETS

Asian stock markets ended mostly lower Friday, as investors adopted a cautious approach amid a mixed bag of earnings reports and economic data, while renewed concerns over Europe in the wake of a downgrade of Spanish debt offset the Bank of Japan's announcement of fresh easing measures.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average finished 0.4% lower, after rising more than 1% following the central bank's policy announcement. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.3%, China's Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.4%, and South Korea's Kospi added 0.6%.

Tokyo-listed shares received a brief boost after the BOJ said its policy board voted unanimously at the end of a one-day meeting to boost the size of its asset purchase program the main tool for credit easing amid near-zero interest rates to Y70 trillion, a net increase of Y5 trillion.

The central bank also decided to extend the maturity of Japanese government bonds it buys under its asset purchase program to up to three years from two years.

Despite a 10.3% overall gain for retail sales, Tokyo-listed retailers were mostly weaker, as much of the increase was reportedly driven by car sales.

FamilyMart dropped 2.5% and J. Front Retailing lost 2.6%. Tokyo-listed Advantest Corp. jumped 7.2% after managing a quarterly profit, despite also posting a fiscal-year loss, while Kyocera Corp. rallied 4% despite a drop in profit, as the firm's outlook tipped a recovery. Nintendo slumped 5.6% after posting its first annual loss in more than 30 years.

In Seoul, shares of Samsung Electronics Co. climbed 2.5% after the global tech major hit a fresh record first-quarter profit, boosted by strong sales of its mobile devices.

Solid earnings reports helped support Hong Kong, with PetroChina Co. rising 3% and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., better known as Sinopec, edging up 0.1% after releasing results.

Shares of BOC Hong Kong Holdings rose 1.9% after the lender posted encouraging first-quarter operating earnings Thursday. Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. was a sharp underperformer, with shares tumbling 15.8%, after it warned of wider losses next year.

COMMODITIES

Base metals ended the week in mostly positive territory on the London Metal Exchange, with copper closing at its highest level in almost four weeks as a weaker-than-expected gross domestic product reading from the U.S. fanned hopes of further quantitative easing and undermined the dollar.

At the close, flagship three-month copper traded at $8,415 a metric ton, up 1.1% on the day and the metal's highest close since the beginning of April.

Crude oil futures settled 38 cents a barrel higher at $104.93 a barrel Friday, as a late bout of short-covering pushed prices up for a fourth day.

Prices slipped on lower-than-expected first-quarter growth in the U.S., but with equities moving higher and the dollar weaker, buyers pushed crude through the 200-day moving average of $104.90 a barrel to settle at the highest level since April 2.

Gold futures edged higher, setting a fresh two-week high as some investors sought the precious metal as an alternative to the U.S. dollar after a weaker-than-expected reading on the health of the U.S. economy. The most actively traded contract, for June delivery, rose $4.30, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,664.80 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement price since April 12.