Asia markets traded in positive territory in the morning on the final trading day of the week, following record highs on Wall Street.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced by 0.49 percent in the early hours of trading action, with the insurance sector rising by 1.43 percent. The moves came following after a data release earlier showed that the country’s nationwide core consumer price index for the month of August rose 0.9 percent compared to a year ago. It was in line with expectations from a Reuters poll but still off the Bank of Japan’s inflation target of 2 percent.
South Korea’s Kospi also saw gains, trading up by 0.3 percent in the morning.
In Australia, the ASX 200 rose by 0.59 percent, as the financial sector saw gains of 0.25 percent with most major banks trading in positive territory. Commonwealth Bank of Australia was up by 0.47 percent while AMP saw gains of 0.78 percent.
Overnight in market action stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared to a record high — its first since January — as it gained 251.22 points to close at 26,656.98. The S&P 500 also saw a new high, rising around 0.8 percent to close at 2,930.75. The Nasdaq Composite advanced by about 1 percent to 8,028.232
China’s commerce ministry said Thursday it hopes the U.S. would take steps to correct its behavior. The ministry’s comments came after the two largest economies in the world slapped fresh tariffs on each other’s goods earlier in the week.
In currency news, the U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 93.905 as of 8:02 a.m. HK/SIN, still off its earlier low.
The Japanese yen continued to trade largely flat against the dollar at 112.48 yen, while the Australian dollar largely held on to its overnight gains at $0.7288, as of 8:05 a.m. HK/SIN.
Here’s a look at the trading day ahead:
- South Korea — Producer Price Index for the month of August
— Reuters contributed to this report.
