YEREVAN, May 17. /ARKA/. China's benchmark index out-performed the broader Asian market for a second straight session on Friday as investors cheered moves by the government to ease strict regulation while the rest of Asia's equity markets traded cautiously as concerns grew over a U.S. Federal Reserve exit from quantitative easing.

The Shanghai Composite hit a seven-week high at 2,276 points while the Nikkei pared losses to close above 15,000 and Sydney's S&P ASX 200 added 0.4 percent.

Liquidity and volume were light in Asia with financial markets in South Korea and Hong Kong shut for public holidays.

For the week, the Nikkei was on track to outperform global peers with gains of over 3 percent compared to a 1 percent increase in the FTSE 100 and the S&P 500. –0--