An
aerial
view
of
a
container
ship
leaving
the
dockyard
in
Qingdao
in
east
China’s
Shandong
province.
Future
Publishing
|
Future
Publishing
|
Getty
Images
Asia-Pacific
markets
were
mixed
Friday
after
an
inflation-fueled
selloff
in
the
previous
session,
with
investor
assessing
economic
data
from
Singapore
and
South
Korea
while
awaiting
China
trade
numbers.
China’s
trade
data
for
March
will
be
released
later
in
the
day,
with
exports
forecast
to
fall
2.3%
year
on
year
by
economists
polled
by
Reuters.
This
follows
a
weaker-than-expected
rise
in
the
country’s
inflation
on
Thursday.
Singapore’s
first-quarter
gross
domestic
product
climbed
2.7%
year
on
year,
advance
estimates
showed,
faster than
the
2.2%
growth
recorded
in
the
last
quarter
of
2023.
The
city-state’s
central
bank
held
its
monetary
policy
steady,
leaving
the
width
and
level
of
its
policy
band
unchanged.
In
contrast
to
other
countries,
Singapore
uses
exchange
rate
settings
for
its
monetary
policy,
instead
of
a
benchmark
interest
rate.
South
Korea’s
March
unemployment
rate
rose
to
2.8%.
The
country’s
benchmark
Kospi
index
was
down
0.26%,
but
the
small-cap
Kosdaq
gained
0.82%
after
South
Korea’s
central
bank
kept
policy
rates
unchanged
at
3.5%,
a
15-year
high.
Japan’s
Nikkei
225
climbed
0.36%,
while
the
broad-based
Topix
rose
0.48%.
In
Australia,
the S&P/ASX
200
slipped
0.30%.
Hong
Kong’s
Hang
Seng
index
traded
0.67%
lower
in
its
first
hour
of
trade.
China’s
CSI
300
inched
up
0.28%.
Overnight
in
the
U.S.,
tech
shares
pulled
both
the
S&P
500
and
Nasdaq
Composite
into
positive
territory,
with
both
indexes
gaining
0.74%
and
1.68%,
respectively.
On
the
other
hand,
the
Dow
Jones
Industrial
Average
slipped
2.43
points,
or
0.01%.
Nvidia
jumped
4.1%,
while
Amazon
added
1.7%
to
hit
an
all-time
high
in
the
session,
and
Alphabet
gained
more
than
2%.
Apple
popped
4.3%
after
Bloomberg
News
reported
that
the
company
would
transition
its
Mac
product
line
to
artificial
intelligence-focused
chips.
The
iPhone
maker
registered
its
best
day
since
May
2023.
—
CNBC’s
Hakyung
Kim
and
Samantha
Subin
contributed
to
this
report.
