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Stocks in Japan rose from a four-month low and were leading most Asian markets higher on Friday, although worries about a coming U.K. vote on European Union membership have left the region's markets badly bruised.

The Nikkei Stock Average was recently up 1.2%, the Hang Seng Index gained 0.9% and the Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.7%. Australia's S&P ASX 200 was roughly flat.

Week-to-date, the Nikkei Stock Average is off 5.7%, on track for its worst performance since the week ended Feb. 12. Hong Kong is headed down 4% while the Shanghai is on track to lose more than 1%.

Some investors appear willing to buy shares after several days of declines, which made for a resilient market Friday.

A recovery began overnight, as U.S. stocks climbed and snapped a five-session streak of declines. The market started the day lower after the Bank of Japan dashed hopes for additional monetary easing, amid concerns about the impact of a coming U.K. vote on whether to remain in the European Union. But official campaigning ahead of the referendum was halted Thursday after an attacker killed a lawmaker from the U.K.'s Labour Party.

The S&P 500 gained 0.3% by Thursday's close.

In Asia, analysts pointed to the closeness of polls tracking the EU membership vote and the possibility of a market rebound should the U.K. choose to remain in the bloc when it votes on June 23.

"The initial market turmoil created by a "Brexit" vote may be both smaller and shorter-lived than many fear," wrote Julian Jessop, an economist at Capital Economics. "Markets are already positioned for a sharp fall in the pound against the dollar, which leave plenty of room for a burst of short-covering."

In Japan, shares closed Thursday at their second lowest point this year, but were rebounding as the Japanese yen reversed its strengthening trend.

The yen recently weakened by 0.1% against the U.S. dollar to 104.62 yen per dollar.

Investors are watching the yen closely—the currency traded as weak as ¥ 103.58 to the dollar during Asian hours Thursday, and many analysts think that a fall below that level raises the likelihood that the Bank of Japan will intervene. Now trading near a two-year high, the stronger yen has been has become a major headache for the central bank because it restrains efforts to stoke inflation and spark growth, while making Japanese exports less competitive abroad.

"It might have made a sense for them to hold off," Nicholas Ferres, portfolio manager for global asset allocation at Eastspring Investments, said of the BOJ's announcement to hold off on further easing Thursday afternoon. "They have a few bullets left in the barrel or ammunition if they need to use it over coming weeks."

The Nikkei is off about 18% since the beginning of the year, but Mr. Ferres said his team is overweight on Japanese equities.

Kosaku Narioka and Takashi Nakamichi contributed to this article.

Write to Chao Deng at Chao.Deng@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 16, 2016 23:55 ET (03:55 GMT)

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