Global stocks end week with gains

Strong corporate earnings gave Wall Street its first positive week for April with a gain on Friday. Reduced concerns about Spain's debt worries and a surprisingly strong reading on German business sentiment supported government debt prices as investors looked to the outcome of policymakers' meetings this weekend and early next week.

However, some wariness over Chinese manufacturing crept into the market late in the session to curtail stocks' gains.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 finished up 0.1 percent, its first higher close in three days. The index rose 0.6 percent on the week, after losses in the two previous weeks.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 65.16 points, or 0.50 percent, at 13,029.26. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.61 points, or 0.12 percent, at 1,378.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 7.11 points, or 0.24 percent, at 3,000.45.

European shares closed out their best week in a month on a high note as buoyant German business sentiment and UK retail sales data provided a welcome distraction from the euro zone debt crisis.

Better-than-expected results from Microsoft and General Electric gave the mood, already lifted by Thursday's closely scrutinised Spanish sovereign debt auction which met solid demand, a further boost.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed up 0.5 percent at 1,046.08 points, with Spain's IBEX 35 index up 1.9 percent.

In Tokyo, Nikkei index fell to post its third straight weekly loss after a Spanish bond auction failed to extinguish fears of a renewed euro zone debt crisis, but a weaker yen offered support.

The Nikkei closed 0.3 percent lower at 9,561.36, below i ts 13-week moving average near 9,575, and was down 0.8 percent this week.

The benchmark has fallen 5.2 percent this month on concerns of a slowing US economic recovery and Spain's finances, after rallying more than 19 percent in January-March to log its best first quarter performance in 24 years. The broader Topix dropped 0.3 percent to 811.94.