November 19, 2025, Shanghai, China: A boat sails on the Huangpu River passing through downtown Shanghai. The tallest building on the skyline is the Shanghai Tower (back).
Bernd von Utrzenka | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Friday as investors awaited China’s inflation data to be released later in the day.
Consumer prices in China are expected to rise 0.8% in December from a year ago, compared with 0.7% in November, according to economists polled by Reuters.
Japanese benchmark Nikkei Stock Average TOPIX rose 0.46%.
shares of fast retailing Shares soared more than 7% after Uniqlo’s Japanese operator said its quarterly operating profit rose by about a third and raised its full-year forecast.
The company cited strong global sales that helped offset the impact of U.S. tariffs, adding that it maintained its profit growth trajectory for the fifth consecutive year, supported by strong sales in China and rapid expansion in North America and Europe.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.41%, and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.21%.
australian S&P/ASX 200 It has a check mark slightly below the flat line. shares of rio tinto Shares fell more than 5% after the mining company announced late Thursday that it had entered early-stage acquisition talks. glencore. If the merger is successful, it would create a mining giant with a market capitalization of about $207 billion.
hong kong Hang Seng Index The futures contract was set to open higher, trading at 26,312, compared to the index’s previous close of 26,149.31.
Investors are also paying attention Hang Seng Bank Shareholders sold shares after majority owners approved the plan on Thursday HSBC Make the lender private.
Defense stocks across Asia rose as investors continued to monitor continued geopolitical tensions following the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and President Donald Trump’s renewed push to seize Greenland.
In Japan, Kawasaki Heavy Industries shares rose 1.46%. IHI Added 1.98%. In South Korea, Pungsan rose more than 4%, and Korea Aerospace also rose 1.33%. Hanwha Aerospace rose 5.87%.
US stock futures were little changed in early Asian trading ahead of the crucial December jobs report and a possible US Supreme Court ruling on tariffs. The Supreme Court could rule on the legality of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, potentially affecting trade policy and the nation’s fiscal health.
Overnight in the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose as investors moved away from tech stocks, weighing on the Nasdaq Composite Index.
The Dow 30 rose 270.03 points (0.55%) to close at 49,266.11. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.44% to settle at 23,480.02. The S&P 500 rose 0.01% to close at 6,921.46. Information technology was a laggard among the S&P 500’s 11 sectors, falling more than 1%.
—CNBC’s Pia Singh and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
