Crowded and busy Ameyoko shopping street in Tokyo, Japan
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Japan stocks were set to rise Friday after Wall Street rose overnight as investors assessed Big Tech earnings.
Futures for Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 in Chicago were at 39,715, while their counterpart in Osaka last traded at 39,580, against the index’s last close of 39,513.97.
The Tokyo consumer price index, excluding fresh food, rose 2.5% year on year in January, compared with 2.4% in the previous month. The latest reading is in line with Reuters’ estimates.
Japan’s unemployment rate for December fell to 2.4% from 2.5% in the previous month, missing Reuters estimates of 2.5%.
Meanwhile, Japan’s retail sales for December climbed 3.7% from the previous year, while its industrial output figures for December grew at 0.3%, month on month, ifrom the 2.2% drop in the month before.
Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 started the day up 0.68%.
The country is expected to release its producer price index reading for the fourth quarter later in the day.
Korean markets will begin trading later in the day after a four-day break, while the Hong Kong and Chinese markets remain closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes rose.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 168.61 points, or 0.38%, closing at 44,882.13. At its session highs, it had added nearly 300 points. The S&P 500 rose 0.53% to 6,071.17, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.25% to end at 19,681.75.
Stocks cut gains late in the session after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intentions to implement 25% tariffs U.S. imports from Canada and Mexico.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.