Asia report: Investors wait ahead of China legislative session

Stocks in Asia cooled down from their recent rebound on Friday, with most indexes recording minor rises by close, as investors played wait-and-see ahead of China's annual legislative session which begins on Saturday.

The Shanghai Composite Index finished up 0.5% at 2,874.15, while the yuan reached its weakest level against the greenback since late last month, trading at CNY 6.5280 against the greenback.

Chinese investors and analysts were now awaiting the series of government meetings in Beijing, where officials were set to outline their plans to boost the country's flagging economy.

Reform for a number of the country's overcapacity industries was likely, though recent action from Beijing had shown the politburo was taking a more modest approach to controlling the pseudo-capitalist market.

A number of the world's finance and central bank leaders expressed disappointment over the lack of action from China at the G20 meeting in Shanghai in late February, setting expectations for the legislative sessions low.

Investors were also watching for Friday's nonfarm payrolls from the US Federal Reserve, as an indicator of when the central bank was likely to raise interest rates again. An unofficial reading on jobs earlier in the week fuelled speculation that another rise was unlikely until at least December.

Elsewhere, the Hang Seng Index closed up 1.18%, the Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.32% and South Korea's Kospi closed down 0.13%.

Easing concerns over weak global growth had sparked a minor recovery in the region in the last two weeks, with rebounding commodity prices and some positive news out of the US also helping.

Indian stocks led weekly rises in the region, with both the Sensex and Nifty indexes gaining 6.4% - the largest gains in the country since December 2011.

Oil prices were own slightly after Asian trading, with Brent crude last down 0.33% at $36.95 and West Texas Intermediate down 0.2% at $34.50 per barrel.

Down under, the S&P/ASX 200 had its best week in five months, finishing Friday up 0.2% with weekly gains of 4.3%.

"From their recent lows US and global shares are up 9 per cent, Australian shares are up 7 per cent, oil is up 32 per cent, the Australian dollar is up 7 per cent and iron ore is up 34 per cent. Maybe these rallies are telling us that all the hand-wringing over global growth was overdone," AMP Capital chief economise Shane Oliver told the Sydney Morning Herald.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 rose 0.6% to a fresh record high of 6,418.12, breaking the previous record set on Thursday. It was led by fast food operator Restaurant Brands, which gained 6.7% and touched a record price since listing after announcing it was buying one of Australia's largest KFC franchises.

In currencies, the yen eased back slightly off the US dollar and was last 0.02% weaker at JPY 113.71. The Aussie was stronger by 0.27% at AUD 1.3565, and the Kiwi gained 0.36% on the US dollar to NZD 1.4816.