Asia-Pacific markets set to rise after volatile session on Wall Street

SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific markets were to set to trade higher on Friday, following a volatile session on Wall Street overnight where investors reacted to comments from the Federal Reserve and U.S. GDP data.

Nikkei futures in Chicago and Osaka were at 26,580 and 26,560 — higher than the benchmark index’s previous close of 26,170.30.

Australia’s ASX 200 rose almost 1% in early trade after closing 1.77% down on Thursday.

The Taiwan market is closed for a holiday on Friday. Hong Kong is slated to release its GDP report for the fourth quarter on Friday afternoon.

Stocks continued to be volatile overnight on Wall Street as investors reacted to news from the Fed, as well as the newest GDP figures and corporate earnings.

U.S. gross domestic product grew 6.9% in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the year before, beating analyst expectations despite a surge in omicron cases.

Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq retraced earlier gains to close lower. The S&P 500 ended the session down 0.5% at 4,326.51, and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite lost 1.4% to 13,352.78. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up over 600 points at during intra-day trade, but closed almost flat at 34,160.78.

All three indexes are firmly in negative territory so far this month.

Spot gold slid to a two-week low of $1,790.20 on Thursday as the U.S. dollar rallied following signs that the Fed will hike interest rates soon, Reuters reported. It has since recovered and was last trading at $1,797 in Asia.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, last traded at 97.204, rising from 95.948.

Meanwhile, the Japanese yen traded at 115.37 per dollar, while the Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7036, up slightly from $0.7031 earlier.

— CNBC’s Saheli Roy Choudhury, Hannah Miao, Tanaya Macheel, Jeff Cox and Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.