Australia shares eye best week since early-April; miners lead gains

Australian shares climbed on Friday, in line with global markets as strong US economic data solidified hopes of continuing recovery, with blue-chip miners leading the charge as iron ore rebounded.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1% to 7,163.7 points by 0025 GMT, eyeing its best weekly finish in eight. The benchmark closed flat on Thursday.

Japan's Nikkei opened up 1.6% at 29017.82, and the S&P 500 E-minis futures firmed 17.5 points, or 0.4%.

Wall Street closed higher overnight after data showed that the US economy grew by 6.4% last quarter, with positive indicators from the labour market also buoying sentiment.

Major Australian miners rose 2.5% to outperform the local benchmark as iron ore prices recovered after hitting a more than six-week low as concerns over China's crackdown eased.

The world's biggest iron ore miner Rio Tinto Ltd jumped 4.8% to be among top gainers on the benchmark, while rival BHP Group advanced 2.9%.

Local energy stocks rose 1.9% as oil prices shot up 1% overnight on US economic data offsetting worries over the potential for a rise in Iranian supplies.

Sector heavyweights Whitehaven Coal Ltd vaulted 4.9%, followed by Oil Search Ltd, gaining 3.0?%.

Financials gained 0.9% with Westpac Banking Corp leading gains on the subindex.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country's biggest lender, climbed 0.8% after brokerage Jefferies lauded its progress in the tech arena and raised its price target.

Among individual stocks, shareholder registry firm Link Administration advanced 4.2% on getting an over A$3 billion ($2.32 billion) offer for its majority-owned online real estate platform PEXA.

Across the Tasman sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.03% to 12,240.