Japan Tankan, US PPI, South Korea unemployment

Asia-Pacific markets have extended gains on Wednesday after producer prices in the U.S. came in lower than expected for July.

The producer price index — a measure of wholesale inflation — increased 0.1% last month. Economists expected the reading to show a monthly gain of 0.2% in July, in line with the previous month’s reading, according to Dow Jones consensus estimates.

Investors will shift their attention to the July consumer price index figures from the U.S. due Wednesday.

In South Korea, the country’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate sank to 2.5% from 2.8% in July, hitting its lowest point since October 2023.

In Japan, business sentiment at manufacturers turned slightly less confident in August compared with the month before, according to the Reuters Tankan survey.

The Tankan survey — which tracks the Bank of Japan’s quarterly survey of the same name — showed that the sentiment index for manufacturers slipped to +10 in August, while the non manufacturers index fell to +24. Both metrics stood at +11 and +26 in July’s survey.

This was due to lackluster demand from China, which weighed on corporate sentiment, Reuters reported, noting that this survey also comes after the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rates in July to their highest level since 2008.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is also due to announce its latest decision on its official cash rate on Wednesday. Economist expectations are varied, with a Reuters poll forecasting the central bank will maintain rates at 5.5%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.6%, while the broad based Topix rose 1.1%.

South Korea’s Kospi was 0.78% higher, while the small-cap Kosdaq jumped 1.4%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 saw a smaller rise of 0.6%.

Early Wednesday, the country’s stock regulator sued the ASX for “making misleading statements” related to its Clearing House Electronic Subregister System, or CHESS, a computer system used to settle trades on the exchange.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission pointed out the ASX had said the replacement project for CHESS was “on track”, but at the time of the announcements, “the project was not tracking to plan and ASX did not have any reasonable basis to imply the project was on track to meet future milestones.”

Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 17,287, higher than the HSI’s last close of 17,174.06.

Overnight in the U.S., stocks rallied and moved closer to last month’s record levels following the PPI report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.04%, at 39,765.64, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.43%.

The S&P 500 added 1.68%, coming to roughly less than 5% from its record high set in July.

—CNBC’s Brian Evans and Sarah Min contributed to this report.