Asia markets to rise after Wall Street continues to see eased banking concerns

Markets in the Asia-Pacific are set to trade higher on Friday as investors on Wall Street continued to shake off concerns of a further banking crisis.

Markets also looked ahead to the U.S. personal consumption expenditure price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, which is slated for release later in the day.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.%73 in its first hour of trade.

The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 28,025 with its counterpart in Osaka at 27,950 against the Nikkei 225‘s last close at 27,782.93. Tokyo’s inflation print is expected to continue showing lower levels from its recent peak of 4.3% seen in December.

Hang Seng futures also pointed to a higher open at 20,563 against the index‘s last close at 20,309.13.

Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 added 0.57%, and touching its highest level since March 7 mid-session. The Nasdaq Composite also rose as tech stocks continued to see renewed investor interest and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.43%.

U.S. weekly jobless claims also rose by 7,000 to 198,000, adding to hopes that the Federal Reserve could slow down its tightening campaign on a cooling labor market.

— CNBC’s Alex Harring, Brian Evan contributed to this report