Asian stocks track Wall Street gains ahead of U.S. payroll data

Waller suggested the Fed would likely attempt to tackle inflation with a 75-basis-point interest rate hike in July and a 50-basis-point hike in September

Asian shares tracked overnight Wall Street gains in early trading on Friday as fears of an economic slowdown cooled and sterling began to claw back recent losses following British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to resign, Qazet.az reports.

Japan's Nikkei index (.N225) was up 1.23% at 26,817.24 in morning trade, its highest mark since June 29th.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) gained 0.8% to its highest level in a week, and South Korea's KOSPI index (.KS11) was up 1.18% and set for its best week in five months.

All three major U.S. indices made gains overnight on positive signals from Federal Reserve officials. Governor Christopher Waller called recession fears "overblown," while St. Louis Fed Bank President James Bullard said he saw a "good chance" of a soft landing for the economy.

Waller suggested the Fed would likely attempt to tackle inflation with a 75-basis-point interest rate hike in July and a 50-basis-point hike in September. Though he said, "if inflation just doesn't seem to be coming down, we have to do more," allowing for possible future 25-basis-point hikes.