A man looks at an electronic board showing the price of Nikkei 225 stocks listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on April 30, 2024.
Hiroshi Noki | AFP | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific stocks opened higher on Thursday after Wall Street benchmarks ended at a record high on weak inflation data.
The U.S. consumer price index rose 0.3% in April, lower than the 0.4% increase forecast by Dow Jones. The U.S. CPI increased by 3.4% annually, in line with market expectations.
Investors are awaiting Japan’s first-quarter GDP data, which is expected to show the economy contracted at an annualized rate of 1.5%. Reuters pollmay jeopardize the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hike plan.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index The Chicago futures contract was at 38,795 points and the Osaka futures contract was at 38,720 points, while the index’s last closing price was 38,385.73 points.
In Australia, futures S&P/ASX 200 Index The opening price was also higher at 7,842 points compared to the last closing price of 7,753.70.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index futures were at 19,062 points, The opening price was slightly lower than the Hang Seng Index’s closing price of 19,073.71 points. Hong Kong markets will reopen on Thursday after a midweek holiday.
Overnight, Wall Street’s major stock indexes closed at record highs on Wednesday after data showed that CPI rose less than expected in April.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 349.89 points, or 0.88%, and the S&P 500 Index rose 1.17%. The Nasdaq rose 1.40%.
—CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.
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