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LONDON (Reuters) � Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were up 0.5-0.7 percent, pointing to a firmer start on Wall Street on Friday.

The Institute for Supply Management was set to release its September manufacturing index at 1400 GMT. Economists in a Reuters survey expect a reading of 54.5 versus 56.3 in August.

Chinese manufacturing picked up steam in September after a mid-year lull, easing concerns of a renewed downturn in global growth, although other leading Asian economies showed some signs of softer business activity.

Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers will release final September consumer sentiment index at 1355 GMT. Economists expect a reading of 67.0 compared with 66.6 in the preliminary September report.

Shares in Hewlett-Packard fell more than 3 percent in extended trade on Thursday after the company named former SAP

Chief Executive Leo Apotheker as its new CEO and president.

The Commerce Department was scheduled to release at 1230 GMT August personal income and consumption data. Economists in a Reuters survey expect both income and spending to increase 0.3 percent. In July, income rose 0.2 percent and spending was up 0.4 percent.

At 1400 GMT, the Commerce Department releases August construction spending. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a fall of 0.4 percent compared with a 1.0 percent drop in July. * Resource-related stocks will be in focus as crude oil prices rose back above $80 a barrel to a seven-week high on hopes of demand recovery in the world's largest consumers.

AIG named a new acting head for its Taiwan unit Nan Shan Life in a move that analysts said paves the way for AIG to sell the unit again following the collapse of an earlier $2.2 billion deal.

At 1430 GMT, Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) releases its weekly index of economic activity for September 24. In the prior week, the index read 122.2.

European shares rose on Friday after falling in the previous four sessions. Forecast-beating China manufacturing data fueled gains that were led by commodities stocks.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.4 percent on Friday, boosted by short-covering after sharp falls the previous day and after better-than-expected U.S. economic data provided a degree of optimism.

Wall Street wrapped up its best quarter in a year on Thursday with the S&P and Nasdaq logging in the biggest monthly gains since April 2009, as data showed the economy is not in such bad shape.

Defying September's track record as the worst month for stocks, the S&P 500 was up 8.8 percent. In the third quarter, the index gained 10.7 percent, which was the best in a year.

(Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Michael Shields)

BEIJING (Reuters) � Chinese manufacturing picked up steam in September after a mid-year lull, easing concerns of a renewed downturn in global growth, although other leading Asian economies showed some signs of softer business activity.

Manufacturing activity slowed in India in September and contracted in South Korea and Australia, surveys showed. Data on Thursday showed Japanese manufacturing contracted for the first time in 15 months and reports later on Friday are expected to show slowdowns in the United States and Europe.

Still, China dominated.

"The PMIs are a very good gauge of the outlook for industrial production in China, and they tell a beautiful story," said Rob Henderson, head market economist at National Australia Bank in Sydney.

"Fears of a substantial downturn have proved unfounded and this should put to rest a lot of the worries about the global outlook."

Indeed, the Asian purchasing managers indexes (PMI) followed signs that activity in the United States had picked up a little in the third quarter, easing worries about a fresh slump in the world's top economy.

New U.S. jobless claims fell last week and manufacturing in the Midwest region grew faster than expected in September.

China's official PMI rose to 53.8 in September from 51.7 in August, well above a median forecast of 52. The data pushed LME copper to a two-year high, lifted the Australian dollar and gave Asian stocks (.MIAPJ0000PUS) a boost.

India's manufacturing sector expanded for the 18th straight month, but the pace slowed to a 10-month low.

Indian manufacturing had stayed strong earlier this year as Chinese activity had slowed.

"The manufacturing sector shows signs of cooling after a red-hot pace earlier in the year," said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian Economics Research at HSBC.

"Capacity constraints may be partly responsible for this, in addition to the fading fiscal stimulus."

In Australia, among the few developed economies to avoid a recession after the global financial crisis, a strong local currency and soft domestic demand led to the first contraction in manufacturing activity in 2010, a survey showed.

PMIs use indicators such as new orders, employment, exports and order backlogs, to gauge the strength of manufacturing, and are considered a leading indicator of broader economic activity.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, and below that a contraction. Further, a reading above 50 that is higher than the previous month indicates a quickening pace of activity, while a 50-plus reading lower than the previous month shows a slowdown.

Q2 GDP TWEAKED

The ISM index, measuring U.S. manufacturing activity and due to be released later on Friday, is expected to ease to 54.5 in September from 56.3 in August, underscoring the tepid nature of the U.S, recovery.

On Thursday, the U.S. government nudged its second-quarter growth estimate up to a 1.7 percent annualized pace from 1.6 percent after growth in consumer spending for April to June was revised up to the fastest pace in three years.

Though analysts think U.S. economic activity may have picked up in the September quarter, it remains far from robust and the Federal Reserve is expected to start a fresh round of monetary easing as soon as November.

"We can stop talking about a double dip, but we are going to grow much more slowly than most people's memory of a recovery will cause them to expect," said Jerry Webman, chief economist at OppenheimerFunds in New York.

In Europe, debt woes dominated after Ireland said it faced a worst-case bailout bill of more than 50 billion euros ($68 billion) for its distressed banks and Spain lost its AAA credit rating.

(Writing by John Mair; Editing by Neil Fullick)