SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Asian stock markets rose slightly on Friday and euro held firm after a strong Wall Street performance and moves toward heading off a potential Irish debt crisis.

The overnight momentum carried over into Friday and at 0130 GMT the MSCI All-Country World equity index .MIWD00000PUS was up nearly half a percent at 464.05 after hitting a one-month low earlier in the week.

JAKARTA (Reuters) – President Barack Obama visits his childhood home of Jakarta this week a weakened leader who has lost much of the goodwill that followed his election, but he may get a boost from an unlikely source: China.

Obama arrives in Indonesia, fresh from a mauling at mid-term polls that has diminished his stature at home and abroad, and just as strategic rival China is trying to play an increasingly assertive role in the region.

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano belched ash and toxic fumes into the atmosphere on Sunday, but local authorities played down the threat to aircraft just two days before U.S. President Barack Obama was due to fly in.

White House officials said they were watching developments “very closely”, but there were no plans for now to reschedule a visit that has already twice been postponed.

HONG KONG, Oct 27 (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar rose on
Wednesday on doubts that the Federal Reserve will aggressively
buy bonds to pump more money into the economy, triggering
profit taking in commodities and Asian equities.

European stock markets followed Asia lower in early trade,
with the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of leading stocks
sliding 0.7 percent. S&P 500 futures SPc1 were down 0.7
percent, pointing to a weaker opening on Wall Street.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar edged up on Wednesday on doubts the Federal Reserve will aggressively buy assets to pump more money into the system, while commodity stocks led Asian stocks lower.

Most currency dealers expect the Fed to opt for more quantitative easing at a policy meeting next week– essentially printing money to buy assets and pull market rates lower — but some believe the weakening dollar already reflects those expectations, and the question of how much easing, and how fast, has kept investors edgy.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian stocks slipped on Tuesday but were near a 28-month high, while the dollar edged up against the euro as dealers took some profits with debate about the outcome of the next Federal Reserve meeting clouding the near-term outlook.

After no major policy initiatives emerged from a Group of 20 finance ministers meeting over the weekend, investors had kept selling the dollar on expectations that further asset-buying from the Fed will lead to debasement of the U.S. currency.