Pedestrians cross crowded traffic at Shibuya Crossing Square in Tokyo.
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Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Friday, with U.S. stock futures flat on Thanksgiving Day and the Nasdaq Composite Index expected to end its seven-month winning streak.
Asian traders will be parsing the latest economic data, including Tokyo’s inflation statistics, a leading indicator of Japan’s broader price trends.
Japan’s capital’s headline inflation rate slowed to 2.7% in October from 2.8% the previous month. Core inflation, which includes energy prices but excludes fresh food prices, was 2.8%, slightly higher than the 2.7% forecast by economists polled by Reuters. This exceeded the central bank’s target of 2%, raising the possibility of short-term interest rate hikes.
Investors will also be keeping an eye on India’s GDP for the second quarter of the fiscal year to September, which will be released later in the day.
Japanese Nikkei Stock Average fell slightly, but the overall Topix rose by 0.18%.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.9%, while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 3.05%.
Kosdaq-listed battery materials maker Enkem soared about 14% after South Korean media reported that it had won an order from a Chinese battery maker. Contemporary Amperex Technology Limitedor CATL.
LG Energy Solutions was Kospi’s biggest loser, falling more than 5% after parent company LG Chem announced it would reduce its stake to about 70% from the current level of almost 80% to improve shareholder returns.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day 0.16% higher.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index futures stood at 25,935, below the HSI’s closing price of 25,945.93.
Overnight in the US, all three major indexes were little changed. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose just 10 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were trading just above the flatline.
When trading resumes on Friday, the stock is on pace for a losing month. A decline in tech stocks weighed on major averages in November as questions swirled about the future profitability of AI companies.
But some investors are hoping this month’s decline could be a sign of year-end gains in major averages, as they look to buy stocks that have been unfairly punished at more attractive valuations.
U.S. markets were closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving. The stock market closes early on Friday at 1:00 pm (Eastern Time).
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
