Europe's top trade official for the first time late on Friday officially cited Chinese mobile telecommunications equipment makers Huawei and ZTE Corp. for violating anti-dumping and anti-subsidy guidelines.

U.S. stocks closed out another week of new record highs Friday as investors focused on the positive side of mixed economic news and corporate earnings.

U.S. consumer sentiment rebounded in early May to the highest level in nearly six years, an encouraging sign after recent data that has suggested economic growth is cooling.

Although Hon Hai Precision (鴻海精密) has made a lot of progress in working conditions at its Chinese factories, the company still faces a challenge in trying to meet a July 1 deadline for cutting working hours.

Shares in Taiwan pulled back Friday from the gains of the previous session as the market encountered stiff technical resistance ahead of 8,400 points, dealers said.

TECO Electric and Machinery (TECO,東元電機) is set to issue Taiwan's second renminbi-denominated bond from corporate issuer GreTai (over the counter market, 櫃買中心) next Monday with the help of HSBC Taipei.

Shares of Shin Kong Financial Holding Co. moved higher Friday morning after it reported an improvement in its bottom line for the first quarter of this year, dealers said.

The chairwoman of Taiwan-based smartphone vendor HTC Corp. has not raised her holdings in the company for 10 months, statistics released by the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) showed Friday.

The U.S. dollar rose against the New Taiwan dollar Friday, gaining NT$0.01 to close at NT$30.060 as the local central bank entered the trading floor again to prop up the greenback and help the currency reverse its early gains, dealers said.

Dell's earnings plunged 79 percent in the latest quarter as the shift to smartphones and tablets reduced demand for the company's personal computers.