Asia markets set to open higher as investors assess Tokyo CPI, await China’s industrial profit data

Asia-Pacific markets were set to open higher Friday, as some markets return from the Boxing Day holiday and investors await economic data from the region.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.49% higher as trading resumed after Christmas and Boxing Day holidays.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a stronger open for the market, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,745 and its counterpart in Osaka at 39,700 compared to the previous close of 39,568.06.

Investors assessed November inflation numbers from Japan’s capital of Tokyo, which saw its headline inflation rate come in at 3%, compared to 2.6% in October. Core inflation, which excludes costs of fresh food, rose to 2.4% missing Reuters’ expectations of a 2.5% rise. Tokyo’s inflation numbers are widely considered to be a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

Japan’s jobless rate for the month of November came in at 2.5%, in line with Reuters’ estimates and unchanged from October.

Traders await China’s industrial profit figures for November.

Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average erased earlier losses and squeezed out a small gain in thin trading Thursday after the market’s strong back-to-back gains at the start of the holiday week.

The blue-chip Dow closed the day 28.77 points, or 0.07%, higher to 43,325.80 after losing about 182 points earlier in the session. The S&P 500 dipped 2.45 points, or 0.04%, to 6,037.59. The Nasdaq Composite also ended the day lower, falling less than 0.1% to 20,020.36. 

—CNBC’s Yun Li contributed to this report.