APAC shares up as inflation rises in Japan

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific region traded higher on Friday as traders responded to Tokyo’s January core consumer prices, which rose 4.3% – the highest rate for Japan’s capital since mid-1981.

The Nikkei 225 ended the session at 27,382.56, while the Topix gained 0.22% to close at 1,982.66. The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond also rose more than 3% to trade at 0.480%, nearing the central bank’s upper ceiling for yield curve tolerance.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.34% higher to 7,493.8. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.62% to 2,483.02, while the Kosdaq rose 0.31% to 741.25 as major company earnings were released in the region. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also rose 0.24%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index rose 0.62%.

These gains in the Asia-Pacific region came after Wall Street’s major indexes also gained following the release of U.S. economic growth data, which showed that the economy expanded at an annualized rate of 2.9% during the fourth quarter, higher than expectations. Additionally, investors also responded positively to the latest batch of corporate earnings, with a Tesla-led tech rally.