Sentiment has brightened to encourage

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> rose as much as 1.4 percent, recovering most of its losses suffered on Thursday when worries about a delay in signing a Greek deal sparked gucci bags new arrivals 2012 fears of a debt default. South Korea <.KS11> led the pack, gaining 1.5 percent, as foreign investors returned in full force. The MSCI's pan-Asia index last stood up 1 percent by early afternoon, heading for a weekly gain of 1.5 percent and a year-to-date rise of more than 13 percent. Japan's Nikkei <.N225> rallied nearly 2 percent to six-month highs, with exporters and financials leading the gains. <.T> "The markets have returned to a familiar pattern, with surprisingly robust U.S. jobs data and growing optimism over Greece combining to resume the recent rally. There's a lot of excess liquidity still left for shares to digest," said NH Investment & Securities analyst Cho Sung-joon. The euro traded around $1.3130, above a three-week low on Thursday of $1.2974. Against the yen, it reached a two-month high above 104 yen. The dollar rose to a 3-1/2-month high above 79 yen on Friday after the U.S. data, adding fuel to its rally triggered earlier this week by the Bank of Japan's policy easing. "Sentiment has brightened to encourage risk taking," said Masayuki Doshida, senior market analyst at Rakuten Securities. "An easy monetary environment continues, with another liquidity injection scheduled later this month from the European Central Bank and expectations that a March default by Greece can be avoided spurring 'risk-on' momentum," he said. CRUCIAL MONDAY Euro zone officials said on Thursday they were putting the finishing touches to a second bailout deal for Greece for approval on Monday, with a focus on how Greece can prioritize debt repayment and ways to ensure gucci sunglasses cheap .Athens commits to reforms. Sources also said euro zone central banks had agreed on a Greek bond swap. The risk of Athens missing a March 20 deadline to pay a 14.5 billion euro bond redemption payment appeared to have eased after a spokesman for the Greek government said on Thursday that Greece expects to begin a debt swap scheme with private bondholders. The CBOE Volatility index VIX <.VIX>, which measures expected volatility in the S&P 500 index <.SPX> over the next 30 days, plunged about 9 percent on Thursday for its biggest drop since December 9. A drop in the index reflects rising risk appetite. But some signs of strain remain. The Markit iTraxx index of credit default spreads for European senior financials, measuring the cost of insuring against a bank defaulting on its debts, has risen by almost 50 basis points in the past 10 days to above 240 bps. FUNDAMENTALS HOLD KEY London copper recovered from Thursday's three-week low to rise 1.2 percent to $8,400 a ton. Spot gold was up 0.2 percent to $1,731 a ton, rising along with equities. U.S. crude changed hands around $102.41 a barrel, adding to a six-week closing high of $102.31 the day before. Brent gained 0.2 percent to $120.32, after settling on Thursday at $120.11, the highest settlement since mid-June, on worries about supply from Iran and the North Sea, where output was expected to dip next month. Asian credit markets firmed with rising risk appetite, narrowing the spreads on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment grade index by 8 basis points. "Greece is less likely to deliver a scare to markets, which already seem to be pricing in quite a negative scenario," said Barclays Capital in a note, but added that it was difficult to envisage a quick resolution given rising implementation risks and domestic political pressures building ahead of elections. "(Markets) have become more optimistic about gucci sunglasses 2012 women the U.S., so a 'growth scare' there could upset market sentiment," it said.