U.S. data eases recession concerns, boosting Asia-Pacific market openings.

U.S. data eases recession concerns, boosting Asia-Pacific market openings.
U.S. data eases recession concerns, boosting Asia-Pacific market openings.
  • Economic indicators in the U.S., including initial jobless claims and a robust second-quarter GDP, alleviated concerns about a recession.

Economic data from the U.S. alleviated recessionary fears, causing Asia-Pacific markets to rise on Friday.

The number of initial jobless claims in the U.S. decreased slightly from the previous week, but was slightly higher than anticipated.

The second-quarter GDP growth rate was revised upward from 2.8% to 3%.

Tokyo inflation is widely considered to be a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

The unemployment rate in Japan increased to 2.7%, exceeding the predicted 2.5% by Reuters.

Japan will also release its retail sales figures later Friday.

The S&P/ASX 200 futures for Australia were at 8,060, a slight increase from its previous closing price of 8,045.

The HSI's last close was higher than Hong Kong's futures, which were at 17,741.

The Nasdaq Composite slid 0.23%, with shares of chipmaker Nvidia leading the decline, which caused the S&P 500 to end the session just below the flatline.

—CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han and Sarah Min contributed to this report.

by Lim Hui Jie

Markets