Night view of Lujiazui Financial District in central Shanghai.
Dai Yongyuan | E+ | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets opened lower on Friday as investors awaited a slew of economic data from China.
Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index The transaction was mediocre.
Japanese Nikkei 225 Index It opened down 0.21% and the Topix fell 0.48%. Korean Cospi It was trading near the flat line, while the Kosdaq fell 0.11%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index futures were last at 19,478 points, which was also weaker than the Hang Seng Index’s previous closing point of 19,522.89 points.
China is scheduled to release December industrial output and retail sales data, as well as fourth-quarter GDP data. Reuters estimates China’s fourth-quarter GDP growth at 5% year-on-year, compared with 4.6% in the previous quarter.
Investors will also be watching Singapore’s non-oil export data for December.
Major U.S. stock indexes gave up gains from earlier in the day overnight, S&P 500 Index The stock snapped a three-day winning streak as big tech stocks pulled back.
The broader index fell 0.21% to 5,937.34. High-tech Nasdaq Index It fell 0.89% to 19,338.29. this Dow Jones Industrial Average It fell 68.42 points, or 0.16%, to 43,153.13.
—CNBC’s Hakyung Kim and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
