Asia markets set to track Wall Street gains with S&P 500 hitting a record high overnight

Asia-Pacific markets were set to rise Friday, tracking Wall Street gains, with the S&P 500 notching a fresh record high.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.91% at open, while futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 16,004 pointing to a stronger start compared with the HSI’s close of 15,944.63.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 is set to extend gains, a day after the country lost its spot as the fourth-largest economy to Germany and entered into a technical recession. Nikkei futures contract in Chicago were at 38,625 and its counterpart in Osaka at 38,650 against the index’s last close of 38,157.94

Economic slowdown has raised hopes Japan may stick with its ultra-loose monetary policy for longer.

Mainland China markets remain closed for the Chinese New Year holidays.

Investors await Singapore 2024 budget, slated to be released later in the day.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes ended trading session in positive territory, after clawing back the steep losses suffered earlier in the week.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.58%, settling at 5,029.73 to close at a new record high, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.30% to close at 15,906.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 348.85 points higher, or 0.91%, to end at 38,773.12.

— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.