ECB executive board member Nagel said Germany has taken a very important step in reforms.

South Korea's KOSPI bounced after two trading days of nearly 10% declines, climbing as much as 5.5% on Friday; Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each rallied more than 9%. A surge in KOSPI futures prompted the Korea Exchange to briefly suspend program trading. Foreign funds and retail investors were net sellers of KOSPI stocks while domestic funds increased holdings. Reports that ANTHROPIC PBC is in talks with Samsung to co-develop custom AI chips, together with elevated expectations ahead of Samsung's preliminary results, underpinned gains. Fibonacci Asset Management CEO Jung In-yoon said the ANTHROPIC-Samsung talks are early-stage and likely to have limited near-term earnings impact but are strategically positive for Samsung's AI-chip positioning and for Asia's role in the AI semiconductor supply chain.

European Council President Costa said the EU budget must be approved by year-end.