Asian shares to gain on brighter news

WELLINGTON -- Asian shares are likely to rise on Friday after US retail sales data showed signs of stabilization in consumer spending, and investors were buoyed by only a slight rating cut to General Electric.

The beleaguered financial sector was buoyed by the Bank of America reporting a profitable start to the year, and a comment from the chief executive the bank should be able to ride out the recession without further help from taxpayers.

The main US indexes rose at least 3.5 percent as Standard & Poor's cut General Electric's AAA rating, but assigned it a stable outlook.

US retail sales fell in February, but the fall was shallower than expected, although other data showed a record 5.3 million workers were on jobless benefits.

Asian investors will look to data out of Japan, with revised industrial production for January and February consumer confidence due on Friday.

Japanese shares are likely to rally strongly, with Nikkei futures last trading in Chicago at 7,445 points, 325 points above the last traded level in Osaka.

The US dollar gained against the yen but was weaker against the euro. Both the dollar and the euro rallied sharply against the Swiss franc, after the Swiss central bank said it was intervening in the foreign exchange market as it faced the risk of deflation.

Crude oil prices surged 11 percent on the US retail sales data, with commodity prices also broadly firmer