The pan-European STOXX 600 held at a near seven-week high with a 0.7% gain,

Volatile movement is expected even as crude futures appear to have found a floor currently, after a dramatic week that saw the NYMEX contract slip into negative territory for the first time.

The U.S. dollar was weaker against the Japanese yen and the euro

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 1.5%, following gains in Asian markets after the Bank of Japan pledged to buy unlimited amount of bonds to keep borrowing costs low.

The Nikkei share average fell 1.97% to 19,280.78, slipping further from Friday’s near six-week high of 19,922.

The upsized package will total 117.1 trillion yen ($1.086 trillion), with fiscal measures making up less than half of it, the Ministry of Finance said.

China on Friday reported a contraction of 6.8% in its Q1 GDP, but economic activity improved in March from January-February.

The NSE Nifty 50 index closed 3.05% higher at 9,266.75, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 3.22% to 31,588.60. Both the indexes finished the holiday-shortened week more than 1% higher.

The rupee declined in line with emerging market peers amid worries of a steep global recession due to the pandemic and hit a record low of 76.82 against the dollar.

France's Framatome has signed a long-term service contract with the Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company Limited (TNPJVC) to support operations of units 1 and 2 at the Taishan nuclear power plant in China's Guangdong province. The 1750-megawatt EPRs entered commercial operation in December 2018 and September 2019, respectively.

The government of India plans to move 19 mbl of oil into its strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) by the end of May 2020,

The Philippine index led the gains, rising 3% and hit its highest close in a month. Big caps Ayala Corp and Bank of the Philippine Islands rose 8.3% and 5.2%, respectively.

China - at the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.37% at 2,825.90.

India's coal import in March stood at 15.74 million tonnes (MT), down 27.5 per cent over last year,

The emergency declaration gives the governors of Tokyo and six other selected prefectures -- Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Fukuoka, Hyogo and Osaka -- legal backing to ask the public to stay home.