People walk through Shibuya on June 23, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.
Carl Court | Getty Images
The Asia-Pacific market rose on Friday after economic data from the US calmed fears of recession, while investors were also assessed to kill data from Japan.
Initial jobless claims in the US fell to 231,000 from 232,000 the previous week, but were slightly higher than the 230,000 expected by the Dow Jones.
In addition, second quarter gross domestic product growth was revised higher to 3% from the initial level of 2.8%.
The inflation rate in the Japanese capital Tokyo rose to 2.6% from June’s 2.2%, reaching the highest level since March.
The core inflation rate – which cuts out fresh food prices – rose 2.4%, higher than the 2.2% expected from a Reuters poll of economists.
Tokyo inflation is considered a leading indicator of national trends.
Unemployment in Japan rose to 2.7%, better than the Reuters estimate of 2.5%.
Retail sales in the country rose 2.6% year-on-year, lower than the 2.9% growth expected by Reuters and the revised 3.8% increase in June.
Japan Nikkei 225 up marginally, and Topix was 0.23% higher after the data release.
South Korea Kospi gained 0.55% in early trade, while the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.74% higher.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.46%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index futures were at 17,741, lower than the HSI’s last close of 17,786.32.
Overnight in the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to a new record, up 0.59% and closed at 41,335.05. Gains in Goldman Sachs, Intel and Visa helped lift the blue-chip average to new highs.
The S&P 500 ended the session below the flat line, but the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.23%, dragged down by shares of chipmaker Nvidia, which fell 6.4%.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
