Global markets largely brushed off more disconcerting economic signals from China, which on Friday reported that its economy grew at its slowest pace in 26 years last quarter.
The 6 per cent growth pace China reported for July-September was worse than most economists were expecting, highlighting a global economy that is slowing.
Domestically, Beijing is under significant pressure to head off job losses as a trade war with the US drags on.
Some of the latest data for September, such as investment and lending, showed improvement, but "pressure on economic activity should intensify in the coming months," Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a commentary.
"Cooling global demand will continue to weigh on exports, fiscal constraints mean that infrastructure spending will wane in the near-term and the recent boom in property construction looks set to unwind."
It was the slowest growth rate since China began reporting quarterly data in 1993.
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Britain's FTSE 100 gained almost 0.2 per cent to 7,194 as Prime Minister Boris Johnson worked to persuade lawmakers to accept a newly struck deal for the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union. The vote is scheduled for Saturday.
The CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.2 per cent to 5,660 while Germany's DAX reversed early losses, edging 0.2 per cent higher to 12,678.
Wall Street looked poised for a tepid start, with the future contracts for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both trending toward flat to slightly higher opens.
The Shanghai Composite index gave up early gains, sinking 1.3 per cent to 2,938.14, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.5 per cent to 26,709.07.
Australia's S&P ASX 200 declined 0.5 per cent to 6,649.70 and the Kospi in South Korea skidded 0.8 per cent to 2,060.69.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index advanced 0.2 per cent to 22,492.68.
Shares also rose in Jakarta but fell in the rest of Southeast Asia and in Taiwan.
Stocks closed broadly higher on Wall Street Thursday as investors welcomed another batch of encouraging quarterly results from big companies.
Despite a choppy week of trading, the benchmark S&P 500 index appears on track for its second straight weekly gain.
The breakthrough in negotiations over Britain's exit from the European Union also helped put traders in a buying mood.
The tentative deal still faces a potentially tough fight for approval in Britain's divisive Parliament.
In other trading, benchmark crude oil picked up 58 cents to USD 54.51 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 57 cents to settle at USD 53.93 a barrel on Thursday.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, gained 20 cents to USD 60.11 a barrel.
The dollar slipped to 108.59 Japanese yen from 108.66 yen on Thursday. The euro rose to USD 1.1145 from USD 1.1126.
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