Asia-Pacific markets traded higher on Wednesday as investors welcomed softer-than-expected United States inflation data, boosting expectations that the Federal Reserve may slow the pace of further monetary tightening.
By 12 pm AEST (2 am GMT), Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3%, Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.9%, while South Korea's KOSPI surged 6.9% to lead regional markets.
Japanese industrial heavyweight Mitsubishi Heavy Industries climbed 4.9% after a Nikkei Asia report said the company had partnered with Nvidia to develop cooling systems and energy management equipment for AI data centres.
The collaboration is expected to improve energy efficiency at next-generation AI facilities as Nvidia expands its global network of "AI factories" with strategic partners.
South Korea's labour market showed signs of improvement, with employment rising by 63,000 jobs in June from a year earlier, marking the first annual increase in two months.
The number of employed people rose to 29.15 million from 29.09 million a year earlier, according to government data.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged down to 2.7% from 2.8% in May.
However, Japan's core machinery orders disappointed sharply, falling 12.4% month-on-month in May. The decline was significantly worse than economists' expectations for a 4.2% fall and reversed April's 8.7% increase.
It marked the third monthly decline this year and the steepest drop since December 2019, highlighting ongoing weakness in business investment.
On an annual basis, machinery orders declined 1.9%, swinging from April's 15.6% increase and missing forecasts for a 12.9% gain.
China also released a series of key economic indicators. Preliminary estimates from the National Bureau of Statistics showed gross domestic product expanded 0.9% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter and 4.3% from a year earlier.
Industrial production rose 5.3% annually in June, exceeding expectations for a 4.6% increase and accelerating from May's 4.5% growth.
Retail sales also surprised to the upside, increasing 1.0% year-on-year to 4.27 trillion yuan, beating forecasts for a 0.1% decline and improving from May's 0.6% fall.
Meanwhile, China's urban surveyed unemployment rate eased to 5.0% from 5.1% in the previous month.
Wall Street closed higher on Tuesday after softer U.S. inflation data boosted investor sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.02%, the S&P 500 gained 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.9%.
In commodity markets, Brent crude rose 1.7% to settle at US$84.73 a barrel, while spot gold advanced 1.3% to US$4,051.99 an ounce.
Across Asia on Tuesday, China's Shanghai Composite rose 1.4% to 3,967.1, while the CSI 300 gained 2.2% to 4,796.5.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.5% to 24,340.7, while India's BSE Sensex fell 0.7% to 77,054.9.
European markets also finished mostly higher. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 10,529.4, Germany's DAX gained 0.1% to 25,147.0, and France's CAC 40 edged up 0.03% to 8,366.9.
