Asia markets set for mixed open as South Korea economic growth beats expectations

Asia-Pacific markets were set to fall as investors assess South Korea’s gross domestic product numbers and markets respond to China’s central bank cutting reserve requirements for the country’s lenders.

South Korea’s GDP grew 2.2% year on year in the fourth quarter and 0.6% compared with the previous quarter, beating expectations from a Reuters poll of 2.1% and 0.5%, respectively.

Separately, the People’s Bank of China announced that it would reduce the amount of funds its banks are required to hold as reserves early next month in a bid to boost its struggling economy.

Reserve ratio requirements for banks will be cut by 50 basis points from Feb. 5, which will provide 1 trillion yuan ($139.8 billion) in long-term capital, according to PBOC governor Pan Gongsheng.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 16,090, looking to extend their rally from Wednesday and higher than the HSI’s last close of 15,899.87.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 started the day up 0.39%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 could go either way based on futures data, with the contracts in Chicago at 36,195 and in Osaka at 36,240 against the index’s last close of 36,226.48.

Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 rose Wednesday as Netflix led a broader rally among technology names, pushing the broader market to new heights. Netflix shares surged more than 10% after the streamer said its total subscriber count hit an all-time high of 260.8 million.

The broad-based index eked out a gain of 0.08% to clinch a new all-time closing high. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.36% helped by the tech rally. It was the fifth straight day of wins for both indexes.

In contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.26%, to 37,806.39, dragged by Verizon and 3M a day after they reported earnings.

— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Alex Harring contributed to this report