Asia markets are set to open higher after Wall Street soars on soft inflation data; Japan GDP on deck

Asia-Pacific stocks were set to open higher Thursday, after Wall Street benchmarks closed at record highs on soft inflation data.

U.S. consumer price index rose 0.3% in April, below the 0.4% rise predicted by the Dow Jones. U.S. CPI climbed 3.4% year over year, in line with market estimates.

Investors are awaiting first-quarter GDP data from Japan, which is expected to show that its economy contracted at an annualized rate of 1.5%, according to a Reuters poll, likely jeopardizing the Bank of Japan’s plans to raise interest rates.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 is also set to rise, with the futures contract in Chicago at 38,795 and its counterpart in Osaka at 38,720 against the index’s last close of 38,385.73.

In Australia, futures for the S&P/ASX 200 also point to a higher open, at 7,842 compared to the last close of 7,753.70.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 19,062, pointing to a marginally lower open compared with the HSI’s close of 19,073.71. Markets in Hong Kong will reopen on Thursday after a midweek holiday.

Overnight, Wall Street’s main indexes closed at record highs on Wednesday after data showed CPI rose at a slower-than-expected pace in April.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 349.89 points, or 0.88%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.17%. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.40%.

— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.