U.K. blue-chip stocks edged higher Friday, scoring a fresh record high, as GKN PLC surged after rebuffing a takeover move. Industrial shares climbed, helping the London FTSE 100 log a sixth weekly win in a row.

U.S. stock indexes on Friday closed out what has been a stellar start to a calendar year for equity trading. In fact, the roughly 4.4% rise for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.89% and the 4.2% rise for the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.67% so far in 2018, represent the best start to a year since 2003, according to WSJ Market Data Group.

Asian stocks built on the strong start to this year and headed for a fresh record high amid optimism in global growth. The yen advanced as traders continued to pile out of bets against the Japanese currency. Hong Kong's benchmark is making a run at its record close since the global financial crisis, and Japanese equities were rising even in face of the yen's appreciation.

(index / closing price / change items /% change)

NIKKEI 23653.82 -56.61 -0.24%

SHANGHAI 3429.32 +3.97 +0.12%

HSI 31412.54 +292.15 +0.94%

ASX 200 6070.10 +2.50 +0.04%

KOSPI 2496.42 +8.51 +0.34%

NZ50 8242.35 -8.09 -0.10%

Euro Stoxx 50 +17.37 3612.61 +0.48%

FTSE 100 +15.70 7778.64 +0.20%

DAX +42.13 13245.03 +0.32%

CAC 40 +28.51 5517.06 +0.52%

DJIA +228.46 25803.19 +0.89%

S&P 500 +18.68 2786.24 +0.67%

NASDAQ +49.29 7261.06 +0.68%

S&P/TSX +21.24 16308.18 +0.13%