Asian shares surged on Friday after a slew of weak Chinese data that raised expectations of fiscal stimulus by the Chinese government to prop up the economy, which in turn pumps liquidity into the stock market.

China's Shanghai Composite index surged 1.60%, while Japan's Nikkei index added 1.10%. Australian shares advanced 0.42%, while European shares weren't that lucky, with the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index down 0.07% on the day.

Oil prices added to their massive gains yesterday on hopes of a rebalance in the market soon, with Brent crude futures up 24 cents, or 0.52% to $46.27 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures added 30 cents, or 0.63% to $43.77 a barrel.

The improving risk sentiment weighed heavily on safe havens, with gold futures down over eight dollars, or 0.60% to $1,341 an ounce, while silver futures shed 20 cents, or one percent to trade at $19.82 an ounce.

Investors await a basket of U.S. data later today, with retail sales expected to have risen 0.4% m/m in July, slowing down from June's 0.6%, which could affect the dollar negatively.

The Producer Price Index for July is forecast to have risen 0.1% m/m in July also sharply slowing down from June's 0.5% jump, which shows weakness in inflationary pressures.