Asian stock markets sagged on Friday after U.S. tech shares retreated from recent rallies, though optimism about U.S. corporate earnings and the global economy underpinned overall sentiment.
European shares were expected to open lower, with spread-betters looking for Germany's DAX <.GDAXI> to fall 0.7 per cent and Britain's FTSE <.FTSE> to drop 0.6 per cent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> fell 1.1 per cent, erasing almost all of its weekly gains, with Samsung Electric <005930.KS>, Asia's largest company by market capitalisation, dropping 4.4 per cent.
