Asian markets are expected to follow Wall Street's gains as U.S. economic data eased recession fears. Asian traders will analyze revised trade data from South Korea and export data from Singapore. Taiwan and Hong Kong's second-quarter GDP data will be released after market hours.
Asia Pacific markets are set to end the week higher, tracking Wall Street gains after the latest economic data eased fears of a US recession.
Retail sales rose 1% in July, well above Dow Jones's forecast of a 0.3% increase. Weekly jobless claims also fell that week.
“Today's strong data on retail sales and jobless claims are a reminder that the U.S. economy is not collapsing,” Stephanie Ross, chief economist at Wolfe Research, wrote Thursday. “Economic momentum has certainly cooled, but we do not appear to be heading toward an imminent recession.”
Asian traders will be analysing revised trade figures from South Korea and export data from Singapore. Second-quarter GDP data is due to be released after market hours from Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Japan's Nikkei 225 futures rose nearly 3% at the market's open, with the Chicago futures contract at 37,795 and the Osaka futures contract at 37,700, up from the previous day's close of 36,726.64.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 futures were at 7,888, up from the previous close of 7,860.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index futures were at 17,308, above the HSI's previous closing price of 17,109.14.
Overnight in the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.39% and the S&P 500 rose 1.61%, marking their sixth consecutive day of gains. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.34%.
—CNBC's Brian Evans and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
