Asian shares posted mixed results on Friday but were gearing up for weekly profits, with Japan's Nikkei index falling 0.40% to 19,782, in line for a weekly gain of 0.94%. China's CSI 300 index fell 0.15%, but it's heading for a weekly gain of 0.64%. Australia's S&P\ASX 200 index rose 0.26%, in line for a big weekly gain of 4.06%. Korea's KOSPI fell 0.08%, heading for a weekly profit of 0.71%. India's Nifty index advanced a robust 0.56%, with a weekly profit of 1.58%.

Wall Street closed flat yesterday, with Dow Jones down 4 points, or 0.02% to 17,732. NASDAQ lost 1.5 points, or 0.03% to 5,073. S&P 500 gave up 2.3 points, or 0.11% to 2,081.

Dollar clawed back some of its losses, with its index up 0.1% to 99.18. Dollar gained 0.18% against Euro to 1.0715. It rose 0.06% against Sterling to 1.5282, while trading flat against the yen at 122.86.

Euro retreated a bit, with its index down 0.12% to 86.25. It lost 0.1% against Sterling to 0.7013. It slipped 0.16% against the yen to 131.67.

Oil prices recovered some ground but remained under pressure. Brent futures for January rose 10 cents, or 0.23% to $44.31 a barrel. U.S. oil futures gained 16 cents, or 0.40% to $41.89 a barrel.

Australian dollar hit a two-week high yesterday at 0.7195, it steadied today to 0.7191. Canadian dollar touched a week high yesterday before slipping 0.11% today to C$1.3299.

Gold futures rose 6 dollars, or 0.56% to $1,084 an ounce. Silver futures gained a cent, or 0.1% to $14.24 an ounce.

From the U.K., Public Sector Net Borrowing is forecast to come at 5.5B for October, lower than September's 8.6B. The less public borrowing there is, the better it is for Sterling.

From Canada, Core CPI –which excludes volatile items like energy and food- is forecast to have grown 0.2% m\m in October, same as September's, which bodes well for the currency. Canada's Core Retail Sales –which excludes automobiles- are forecast to have fallen 0.3% m\m in September, which might have a negative effect on the loonie.