European stocks were seeing modest gains in cautious trade on Friday after U.S. tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet posted strong quarterly earnings and an ECB survey showed Euro zone consumers lowered their expectation for inflation over the next 12 months in March.

U.K. stocks traded higher on Friday after a monthly survey conducted by the market research group GfK revealed that British consumer sentiment improved in April on slowing inflation as well as expectations about further tax cuts.

French stocks rose on Friday, though overall gains remained capped ahead of the release of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure due later in the day.

German stocks climbed on Friday after U.S. tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet posted strong quarterly earnings and an ECB survey showed Euro zone consumers lowered their expectation for inflation over the next 12 months in March.

The Bank of Japan left its key interest rate unchanged near zero and the bank's latest projections showed the underlying inflation staying around 2 percent that further damped expectations for aggressive tightening in future. The BoJ policy board, headed by Governor Kazuo Ueda, unanimously decided to hold the overnight interest rate at around 0 to 0.1 percent.

Expert market comment made by senior analyst Alex Kuptsikevich of the FxPro Analyst Team: Cooler Bitcoin

Currency and commodity pairs gained momentum. Pound-dollar, Bitcoin-dollar, and oil-dollar pairs rose, while the Aussie dollar pair corrected. Major financial news: potential SEC rejection of ether ETFs, Swiss National Bank's record profit, and rising oil prices amid Middle East tensions.

The U.S. PCE index, scheduled for release later today, may exceed expectations, dampening prospects for Fed interest rate cuts.

Expert market comment made by senior analyst Alex Kuptsikevich of the FxPro Analyst Team: US economy: slower growth with stronger inflation

Expert market comment made by senior analyst Alex Kuptsikevich of the FxPro Analyst Team: The Nasdaq100 might retreat to 15800