Hong Kong’s Hang Sang rebounds in Asian markets, US PCE eyed

• Asian equities rebound from 10-month lows amid the thin volume due to the holidays in China and South Korea.
• Headline Tokyo Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September eased to 2.8 YoY vs. 2.9% prior.
• Investors await the US Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) Price Index report.

Asian stocks recover from their 10-month lows, but investors remain concerned about rising interest rates that weighed on sentiment. Investors await the release of US consumer inflation data due later in the North American session on Friday.

At press time, Hong Kong’s Hang Sang surges 2.65% to 17,832 and Japan’s Nikkei is down 0.35%. Friday’s trading volume was muted due to holidays in China and South Korea.

In Japan, the headline Tokyo Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September eased to 2.8%% YoY from 2.9% in the previous reading. Meanwhile, the Tokyo CPI ex Fresh Food, Energy came in at 3.8% YoY from 4.0% in August. Tokyo CPI ex Fresh Food eased from 2.8% to 2.5% for the said month compared to analysts’ estimations of 2.6%.

On Thursday, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki reiterated that he won't rule out any steps to respond to disorderly FX moves. Traders turns cautious amid the fear of intervention as the level of 150.00 would prompt Japanese authorities to intervene as they did last year.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong's Hang Seng edges higher as technology stocks recovered on Friday. 

Market participants will closely monitor the US Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) Price Index, the Fed's preferred measure of consumer inflation due later on Friday. The annual consumer inflation for August is expected to decline from 4.2% YoY to 3.9%.