Asia subdued before oil producers' meeting

Asian stocks were subdued on Friday as caution over a weekend meeting of oil producers tempered risk sentiment, while the region's markets took China's relatively upbeat GDP data in stride.

Japan's Nikkei was down 0.3 percent, while Australian shared edged up 0.4 percent. Other modest gainers included Malaysian and Indonesian stocks.

Shanghai lost 0.4 percent, while South Korea's Kospi inched down 0.1 percent.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.1 percent. The index has gained about 3.5 percent on the week during which it hit a five-month high, helped by a slight thaw in pessimism over the Chinese economy and an earlier surge in crude oil prices.

Stocks have gained globally this week against this backdrop, with the S&P 500 reaching its highest point so far this year overnight, and taking it a step closer to record highs scaled almost a year ago.

China's economy grew 6.7 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, meeting expectations and providing additional evidence that a slowdown in the world's second largest economy may be bottoming out.

"There are a lot who doubt the current market rally at the moment, particularly when the S&P 500 is so close to its all-time highs," wrote Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG in Melbourne.

"And yet, in a world where one-third of government bonds have negative yields, there is a strong incentive to increase one's equity allocation in pursuit of positive returns."

Oil prices have pulled back from recent peaks on concerns that the top producers' meeting may not result in a tightening of supply.

US crude oil was up 5 cents at USD 41.54 a barrel, but still off a 4-1/2-month peak above USD 42 reached mid-week when market hopes were higher that the Doha producers' meeting would result in tighter supply. Brent crude rose 4 cents to USD 43.88 a barrel.

The dollar, which had gained broadly this week as risk appetite improved, stalled against the euro after Thursday's data showed US consumer prices rose less than expected in March.

The euro traded little changed at USD 1.1261 , nudged away from a two-week low of USD 1.1234 plumbed earlier on Thursday.

The dollar touched a one-week high of 109.74 yen. The greenback stood comfortably above a near 18-month trough of 107.63 struck on Monday.

Sterling was steady at USD 1.4146 , moving away from an overnight low of USD 1.4091 after Bank of England policymakers voted 9-0 to keep interest rates at a record low of 0.5 percent, quashing speculation that one or more members could vote to cut rates.

The pound was also pressured earlier on Thursday after a YouGov poll was the latest to show Britain split down the middle on June's referendum on whether to leave the European Union.

The Australian dollar, buoyant through much of the week thanks to a bounce in commodities, fell back from a nine-month peak of USD 0.7737 reached overnight and last traded at USD 0.7709.

The Aussie, often used as a proxy of China-related trades, showed little reaction to Friday's Chinese GDP numbers.