Asian indexes recover as Wall Street benchmarks closed higher; data in focus

Asian equity markets were mostly higher on Thursday, following a strong close in Wall Street as key economic reports came in better than expected in the previous session.

The Nikkei 225 was up one and a half percent, with financials and technology contributing most gains despite a more expensive yen.

Japan’s industrial production increased by 2.9 percent in December, above an originally estimated 2.7 percent growth rate.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was about one percent into green territory, energy, and materials offering support to the benchmark. Rio Tinto was up 2.93 percent and BHP added 3.48 percent.

The unemployment rate in Australia matched expectations for a 0.1 percent reduction from a prior 5.6 percent in January. Employment change rose by 16,000 in the prior month.

Stock markets in China, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan will remain closed on Thursday as these nations have started celebrations for their Lunar New Year holiday.

<<< Asian Stock Indexes at 05:50 GMT >>>

Australia ASX S&P +68.70 +1.16% 6,008.70

Shanghai Composite +14.20 +0.45% 3,199.16

Hong Kong Hang Seng +599.83 +1.97% 31,115.43

Japan Nikkei 225 +309.92 +1.47% 21,464.09

Taiwan TSEC 50 Index +49.34 +0.48% 10,421.09

<<< Next in Europe >>>

Ahead in today’s session, ECB Mersch is due to speak as of 08:15 GMT, followed by ECB Praet at 10:45 GMT and ECB Lautenschlaeger at 12:00 GMT.

Also, Eurozone’s trade balance for December is expected to be released at 10:00 GMT.

<<< Next in United States >>>

Traders will keep an eye on the producer price index for January and initial jobless claims at 13:30 GMT. The NY Empire State and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing indexes will be out too.

Industrial production figures for the previous month will be released at 14:15 GMT. TIC net long term transactions for December are scheduled at 21:00 GMT.

FortFS