Sept 13 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian

markets.

Asian stocks are poised to end the week on a strong footing on

Friday, spurred on by another solid rise on Wall Street the day

before that puts some key benchmark indexes across the continent

on track to register modest weekly gains.

The European Central Bank cut interest rates on Thursday and

the Fed is set to begin a pretty substantial easing cycle next

week. Although the former was no surprise and traders have been

expecting the latter for a while, they are conducive to a 'risk

on' environment that should boost sentiment in Asia on Friday.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both rose for a fourth consecutive

day on Thursday. The S&P 500 came within 1% of its record high

struck on July 15 and the Nasdaq, up 5.3% so far this week, is

on track for its biggest weekly rise this year.

In other good news, Japan's Nikkei on Thursday snapped a

seven-day losing streak in style, jumping 3.4%. Notably, it did

so without the help of a weaker yen - the yen made a new high

for the year against the dollar and although it recoiled, it

still ended Thursday slightly stronger.

But if yen strength is to persist, the outlook for Japanese

stocks is murky. Indeed, the outlook for global asset prices may

also be murky if the yen carry trade unwind has further to run,

as SocGen strategists expect.

This creates "clear market risks as market leverage in this

cycle comes mainly from the Japanese currency," they said on

Thursday, adding that they are increasing their yen exposure and

reducing their Japanese equities exposure.

If markets across Asia are set to end the week on a high,

the exception once again could be China. Shanghai stocks on

Thursday posted their lowest close since January 2019.

Shanghai's blue chip index will likely end the week in the

red, its fourth weekly fall in a row and the 14th decline out of

the last 17 weeks. It's been a miserable run that has seen the

index lose 15%, but surely it has to turn at some point. Right?

A batch of top-tier economic data from China over the

weekend could be the trigger although that may require some rare

upside surprises.

Beijing releases house price, investment, industrial

production and retail sales figures for August on Saturday, and

economists polled by Reuters generally expect the numbers to

come in weaker than July's readings.

The calendar in Asia on Friday, meanwhile, sees the release

of Indian wholesale price inflation, a speech by Bank of

Thailand governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput and Bank of Japan

board member Naoki Tamura.

Here are key developments that could provide more direction

to Asian markets on Friday:

- India WPI inflation (August)

- South Korea import & export prices (August)

- New Zealand manufacturing PMI (August)