Sunrise around the Bund River area in Shanghai, China, on November 2, 2023.
James D. Morgan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets closed higher on Friday, tracking Wall Street's gains, as new labor market data boosted investor confidence in the U.S. economy and eased recession fears after a sharp market sell-off earlier in the week.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.25% to close at 7,777.7. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.56% to close at 35,025, while the broad stock index TOPIX rose 0.88% to close at 2,483.3. South Korea's KOSPI rose 1.24% to close at 2,588.43, while the small-cap KOSDAQ rose 2.57% to close at 764.43.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.42%, while mainland China's CSI 300 lost 0.34% to close at 3,331.63.
Earlier this week, global stocks and currencies fell sharply as U.S. employment data rekindled recession fears and investors began unwinding yen “carry trades.”
Investors are analysing China's consumer price index and producer price index for July.
China's consumer price index rose 0.5 percent from a year earlier, beating a Reuters forecast of a 0.3 percent increase and up from a 0.2 percent increase in June.
The producer price index fell 0.8% from a year ago in July, slightly less than the 0.9% decline expected and unchanged from June's 0.8% decline.
Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 rose 2.3% to close at 5,319.31, its highest close since November 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 683.04 points, or 1.76%, to 39,446.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.87% to close at 16,660.02.
New claims for jobless benefits fell less than expected last week, bucking other signs of a weakening labor market. New claims for jobless benefits fell to 233,000 last week, down 17,000 from the previous week and below the Dow Jones forecast of 240,000, the Labor Department said Thursday, providing some relief to markets amid signs that job growth is slowing.
—CNBC's Hakyung Kim and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.
