Asia markets set to trade lower tracking Wall Street’s losses; Japan inflation numbers watched

Asia-Pacific markets are set to fall on Friday, tracking Wall Street’s losses overnight and giving up gains from the previous day.

Investors will assess Japan’s March inflation figures. Economists polled by Reuters expect core inflation — which strips out fresh food prices — to rise 2.6% year on year.

Traders will also be looking at chip stocks, after Taiwanese chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp beat first quarter revenue and profit expectations on Thursday.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 is set to slide, with the futures contract in Chicago at 37,730 and its counterpart in Osaka at 37,710 compared to the index’s last close of 38,079.7.

In Australia, futures for the S&P/ASX 200 also point to a lower open, at 7,612 compared to the previous close of 7,642.1.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 16,355, pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s close of 16,385.87.

Overnight on Wall Street, all three major indexes ended mixed, with the S&P 500 posting five straight days of losses, its longest losing streak since last October. The broad index lost 0.22%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.52%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.06%, closing just above its flatline for 2024.

— CNBC’s Brian Evans and Alex Harring contributed to this report.