Filming an elevated overpass in Shanghai evening on a high-rise building
Guowei Ying | Moment | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are primed to rise on Thursday after a soft inflation report in the U.S. helped two of the three benchmarks on Wall Street reverse course from two days of losses.
The consumer price index — a broad-based measure of costs across the U.S. economy — increased 0.2% month-on-month in February, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.8%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 started the day 0.20% higher, reversing course from losses in the previous two sessions.
Over in Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 is set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 37,035 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 37,000, against the index’s last close of 36,819.09.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index stood at 23,633, pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI’s close of 23,600.31.
Overnight in the U.S., the Nasdaq Composite picked up after the soft inflation report eased concerns about a looming recession and as investors snapped up technology shares.
The tech-heavy benchmark added 1.22% and closed at 17,648.45, while the S&P 500 gained 0.49% to end at 5,599.30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 82.55 points, or 0.2%, to settle at 41,350.93.
The tech sector is off more than 3% week to date, but bounced back in the session to lead gains In the S&P 500. Top performers include Nvidia, which gained 6.4%, and AMD which added more than 4%. Meanwhile, Meta Platforms advanced 2% and Tesla jumped more than 7%.
CNBC will be hosting “CONVERGE LIVE,” an inaugural thought leadership event on March 12-13, 2025, in Singapore, where global business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and key decision-makers will discuss what it means to innovate and grow by collaborating and sharing ideas across industries.
Viewers can watch the live stream of the event and hear from speakers including Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Kim Yong Gan, Alibaba Group Chairman Joe Tsai, Bridgewater Associates Founder Ray Dalio, and Salesforce CEO, chair, and co-founder Marc Benioff and others here.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Brian Evans contributed to this report.
