Japan -0.19%. Japan data: April Services Producer Price Index +1.7% y/y (expected 1.5%).
China +0.83%.
Hong Kong -0.36%
Australia -0.54%. Australian Q1 capex headline -0.3% q/q (expected +1.5%).
India -0.16%.
Overnight on Wall Street, Dow Jones advanced 191.66 points, or 0.6%, to 32,120.28, S&P 500 climbing around 0.95% to 3,978.73, while Nasdaq jumped 1.51% to 11,434.74.
U.S. Fed minutes released Wednesday showed officials are prepared to move ahead with several 50 basis points interest rate hikes. The Federal Open Market Committee also said policy may have to move away from “neutral” and into “restrictive” territory.
South Korea’s central bank hikes base rate by 25bp, as expected. 1.5% to 1.75% now.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures climbing 0.39% to $114.48 per barrel. U.S. crude futures gained 0.53% to $110.92 per barrel.
U.S. futures lower. Dow Jones -0.08%; S&P 500 -0.20%; Nasdaq -0.54%.
