Asian markets mostly higher, tracking Wall Street gains

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares advanced Friday in Asia after news that U.S. consumer inflation slowed last month pushed Wall Street benchmarks higher.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.3% to 26,119.52 on speculation that the Bank of Japan might relent and tighten its ultra-loose monetary policy as the yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds was pushed beyond the central bank's cap of 0.5% on heavy selling ahead of next week's policy setting meeting.

The BOJ has kept its key interest rate at minus 0.1%, maintaining that downward pressure from a likely recession is a bigger risk than inflation, which has remained at relatively moderate levels in Japan.

Shares in Fast Retailing, which shot up earlier in the week on news it would hike wages by as much as 40%, dropped 6.4% after the company reported weaker than expected profit in the previous quarter.

China reported its trade surplus ballooned to a record $877.6 billion in 2022 as exports rose 7% despite weakening U.S. and European demand and anti-virus controls that temporarily shut down Shanghai and other industrial centers. The country’s politically sensitive trade surplus expanded by 29.7% from 2021′s record, already the highest ever for any economy.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.5% to 21,621.96 and the Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.5% to 3,180.27. The Kospi in Seoul added 0.4% to 2,388.58, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.7% to 7,328.10.

Taiwan's benchmark gained 0.6% while Bangkok's SET dropped 0.7%.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 3,983.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6% to 34,189.97. The Nasdaq advanced 0.6% to 11,001.10

Small company stocks outpaced the broader market. The Russell 2000 picked up 1.7%, to 1,876.06. Every major index is on track for weekly gains.

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