·         European stocks opened higher Friday morning, as investors closely monitored ongoing political turmoil in the U.K.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up around 0.44 percent shortly after the opening bell, with most sectors and major bourses in positive territory.

·         Market focus is largely attuned to Brexit developments, amid heightened fears the country could soon crash out of the European Union without a divorce deal.

·         The British pound suffered its biggest one-day loss against the euro since October 2016 on Thursday, as a flurry of resignations rocked the government of U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May.

·         On Friday morning, the U.K. currency stood at 1.2802 against the U.S. dollar, up 0.2 percent.

·         Back in Europe, investors are likely to watch out for the euro area's final reading of core inflation rate data for October at around 10 a.m. London time.

·         Japan’s Nikkei fell on Friday as a drop in semiconductor-related stocks weighed after U.S. chip designer Nvidia Corp disappointed the market with worse-than-expected earnings, while Nintendo also fell sharply.

Gaming giant Nintendo Co, which uses Nvidia’s Tegra processors for its Switch consoles, stumbled 9.1 percent to post its biggest daily drop since July 2016. Traders said Nvidia’s results raised concerns about Switch’s potentially weak sales.

Nintendo was the most-traded stock by turnover and closed at 31,860, its lowest closing level since May 2017.

The Nikkei share average ended 0.6 percent lower at 21,680.34.

The Nikkei fell 2.6 percent this week, hit mostly by a drop in oil prices and weakness in Apple suppliers and other tech shares.

·         China stocks rose about half a percent on Friday, helped by banks as comments from the central bank eased pressure to lend, and by securities companies on the back of a broad recovery in the equity market. Shares of Shanghai-based companies also advanced following a report that China plans to expand the free trade zone.

·         The Shanghai Composite index ended 0.4 percent higher at 2,679.11, gaining 3.1 percent for the week.

Reference: Reuters, CNBC