An investor watching share prices at the securities trading floor of Asia Commercial Bank in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Hoang Dinh Nam | AFP | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets opened higher on Friday as investors parsed data from major economies across the region.
Japan’s industrial output figures showed a surprise 0.1% fall in April from the previous month, smaller than a Reuters poll forecast for a 0.9% rise.
Another dataset showed core inflation in Japan’s capital Tokyo rose 1.9% in May, in line with Reuters poll expectations.
South Korea’s industrial production index rose 2.2% month-on-month in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, beating a Reuters poll expectation of a 1.1% rise.
China is also gearing up to report its official purchasing managers index for May.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.23%, while the broader Topix index gained nearly 0.7%.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.07%, leading gain in Asia. The smaller-cap Kosdaq added 0.73%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.78%.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 18,041, pointing to a lower open compared to the HSI’s close of 18,230.19.
Overnight, Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower as investors looked ahead to the release of key U.S. inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 330.06 points, or 0.86%. The S&P 500 lost 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.08%.
The latest reading for the personal consumption expenditures price index will be released Friday, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge for inflation, and is expected to show prices in April running at a 2.7% annual rate, according to Dow Jones estimates.
— CNBC’s Alex Harring and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.