Asia-Pacific markets rose on Thursday after a soft inflation report in the U.S. helped two of the three benchmarks on Wall Street reverse course from two days of losses.
The consumer price index — a broad-based measure of costs across the U.S. economy — increased 0.2% month-on-month in February, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.8%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was trading 0.32% higher, reversing course from losses in the previous two sessions.
Over in Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 picked up 1.22% at the open, while the broader Topix index rose 0.96%.
South Korea’s Kospi index gained 0.70% in early trade, while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 0.47%.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index stood at 23,633, pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI’s close of 23,600.31.
Investors will be keeping a watch on Indian stocks after the South Asia giant’s inflation rate cooled to a lower-than-expected 3.61% in February as vegetable prices edged down.
Overnight in the U.S., the Nasdaq Composite picked up after the soft inflation report eased concerns about a looming recession and as investors snapped up technology shares.
The tech-heavy benchmark added 1.22% and closed at 17,648.45, while the S&P 500 gained 0.49% to end at 5,599.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 82.55 points, or 0.2%, to settle at 41,350.93.
The tech sector is off more than 3% week to date, but bounced back in the session to lead gains In the S&P 500. Top performers include Nvidia, which gained 6.4%, and AMD which added more than 4%. Meanwhile, Meta Platforms advanced 2% and Tesla jumped more than 7%.
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Viewers can watch the live stream of the event and hear from speakers including Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Kim Yong Gan, Alibaba Group Chairman Joe Tsai, Bridgewater Associates Founder Ray Dalio, and Salesforce CEO, chair, and co-founder Marc Benioff and others here.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Brian Evans contributed to this report.