A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from

Gregor Stuart Hunter

What a wild ride. Markets in Asia staged a blistering rally on

Friday after the scorching selloff in tech stocks earlier this

week, while the yen resumed its descent as the Bank of Japan

left interest rates on hold.

South Korea's KOSPI blasted as much as 17% higher,

alongside gains of more than 7% in Taiwan and a jump of

more than 5% in Japan's Nikkei 225 as traders pounced on

battered chipmaker shares. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific

shares outside Japan was up 4.7%.

Despite Friday's record gains, the KOSPI was still on track

to lose almost 25% in July, marking its largest monthly loss

since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

Currency markets, meanwhile, were processing the implications of

unprecedented coordinated intervention by Japanese and Korean

foreign exchange authorities on Thursday to strengthen their

respective currencies against the U.S. dollar. For Tokyo, it was

the latest in a string of market forays by authorities this year

to halt the yen's decline, but it was a rare move by Seoul.

The intervention boost didn't last long for the yen,

which fell on Friday to 160.69 after the Bank of Japan's

rate-setting committee kept rates on hold, in line with market

expectations. The won also reversed some gains after reaching

its strongest level in nine months overnight.

Stocks took their cues from Wall Street's gains on Thursday,

with S&P 500 e-mini futures up 0.3% in Asian trade after

strong earnings from Amazon and Sony ( SONY ) during the

Tokyo trading session, though Apple ( AAPL ) forecast revenue

growth below analysts' estimates as it struggled with chipmaking

bottlenecks.

Korean chipmaking heavyweights Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF )

and SK Hynix ( SKHY ), followed suit, soaring nearly 30% on

Friday.

In early European trades, pan-region futures were

up 0.6%, German DAX futures gained 0.4%, and FTSE

futures were 0.4% higher.

Key developments that could influence markets on Friday:

* Company earnings: ExxonMobil ( XOM ), AbbVie ( ABBV ),

Chevron ( CVX ), ITV, NatWest ( NWG ), Puma,

Taylor Wimpey

* Economic events:

* UK: Nationwide house prices for July

* France: Preliminary CPI for July, producer prices for June

* Germany: Unemployment for July

* Euro Zone: CPI, HICP Flash for July

* Debt auctions: UK: 1-month, 3-month and 6-month government

debt