| * China's central bank assures financial markets * Global stocks extend gains for fourth day * China poised to name new head for $500bn wealth fund CIC * Egypt clerics warn of 'civil war', urge calm * Kurdish party to press Turkish government with protest marches * Nike to tackle rising Asian labour costs * Iran, Russia and China prop up Assad economy * US to suspend Bangladesh trade privileges * Myanmar telco auction: the good and the bad * Argentine credit-default swaps fall on hopes of bond reprieve * India's current account deficit falls to 3.6% of GDP Markets: up China's central bank assures financial markets
China will ensure there is enough money in the economy for the smooth functioning of its financial markets, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in his first public comments since the country was hit by a cash crunch.
http://on.ft.com/19AYpIj Global stocks extend gains for fourth day
Markets are finishing a volatile quarter on a more confident note as investors perceive positive developments in the world's three biggest economies, the US, China and Japan.
http://on.ft.com/151mgML China poised to name new head for $500bn wealth fund CIC
China's $500bn sovereign wealth fund is finally close to naming a new chief, ending a months-long delay during which several candidates turned down the job for fear it would prove to be a poisoned chalice.
http://on.ft.com/11REHPU Egypt clerics warn of 'civil war', urge calm
Egypt's leading religious authority warned of "civil war" on Friday and called for calm after a member of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood was killed ahead of mass rallies aimed at forcing the president to quit.
http://reut.rs/1aSzKNs Kurdish party to press Turkish government with protest marches
Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party called on Friday for marches in three major cities this weekend to launch a summer of protests aimed at raising pressure on the government to carry out reforms under a peace process with Kurdish militants.
http://reut.rs/15MnEzP Asian stocks extend gains for third day
Asian shares extended gains for a third day on improving economic data from Japan and the US, and on fading fears of an early end to US monetary stimulus.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b9690ed4-df9f-11e2-881f-00144feab7de.html Nike to tackle rising Asian labour costs
Nike is to tackle rising labour costs at its Asian factories by "engineering the labour out" of its shoe and clothing production as it seeks to defend its profits.
http://on.ft.com/11R46sY Iran, Russia and China prop up Assad economy
Iran, Russia and China are propping up Syria's war-ravaged economy, with President Bashar al-Assad's regime doing all its business in rials, roubles and renminbi as it seeks to beat western sanctions, according to the country's senior economics minister.
http://on.ft.com/12tcwp7 US to suspend Bangladesh trade privileges
The Obama administration has decided to suspend trade privileges for Bangladesh, citing its poor labour standards after a series of disasters in the country's multibillion-dollar clothing export factories.
http://on.ft.com/1278rYW Myanmar telco auction: the good and the bad
The decision by Myanmar's government to award two fiercely contested national mobile communications licensesto Qatar's Ooredoo and Norway's Telenor Mobile Communications on Thursday raised as many questions as answers among Yangon-based analysts – not least due to an eleventh-hour effort by the country's parliament to block news of the winning bids.
http://on.ft.com/1aS7Ilg Argentine credit-default swaps fall on hopes of bond reprieve
The cost of insuring against an Argentine debt default has plunged on hopes that a last-minute request for a US Supreme Court hearing could win Buenos Aires more time to make bond payments.
http://on.ft.com/19Fq8Ed India's current account deficit falls to 3.6% of GDP
India's current account deficit fell unexpectedly in the quarter ending in March, helping the rupee recover from Wednesday's record low and pushing shares up by about 1 per cent.
http://on.ft.com/151mJi2 Emerging Markets
MSCI Emerging Market Index up +1.74% at 935.45 Europe
FTSE up -0.13% at 6,235
RTS up +0.26% at 1,266
Warsaw Wig up +1.01% at 44,107
FTSE 300 Eurotop down -0.49% at 1,152 Americas
DJIA up +0.77% at 15,024
S&P 500 up +0.62% at 1,613
Bovespa up +0.93% at 47,609 Asia
Nikkei 225 up +3.51% at 13,677
Topix up +3.19% at 1,134
Hang Seng up +1.78% at 20,803
Shanghai Composite up +1.50% at 1,979
MSCI Asia ex-Japan up +2.33% at 426.32
CNX Nifty up +2.81% at 5,842 Currencies
€/$ 1.31 (1.30)
$/¥ 98.96 (98.34) Commodities
Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.16 at 102.98
Light Crude (Nymex) up +0.23 at 97.28
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -7.90 at 1,204 | 
