Asian shares mixed after new signs of cooling inflation

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mixed Friday in Asia after a muddled day on Wall Street, where benchmarks meandered following another encouraging report about inflation.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 surged 2.6%, catching up on gains after being closed Thursday for a holiday. Hong Kong and Seoul also advanced, while Shanghai and Sydney declined. U.S. futures edged higher and oil prices fell.

Markets got a boost Thursday after a report showed inflation at the wholesale level slowed more than economists expected last month. That came a day after a cooler-than-expected reading on inflation at the consumer level which raised hopes among investors that inflation may be close to a peak and that the Federal Reserve will be less aggressive about raising interest rates than feared.

Inflation is still painfully high and the economy has given false signals before that relief was on the way only for investors to have the rug pulled out from underneath them. Some Fed officials also made comments after Wednesday’s inflation report suggesting their battle against rising prices is far from over.

“Stocks were unable to hold onto robust gains following back-to-back reports that suggest inflation has peaked. After a little pushback from the Fed, Wall Street is starting to second guess how soon the Fed will be in a position to pivot" to slowing rate hikes, Edward Moya of OANDA said in a commentary.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 727.65 points to 28,546.98. Seoul's Kospi edged 0.2% higher to 2,527.94 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong picked up 0.2% to 20,125.53.

Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.5% to 7,032.50 while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.2% to 3,276.65. Shares fell in India but rose in Taiwan.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 closed 0.1% lower at 4,207.27 Thursday but was still on pace for a...