Asia-Pacific markets mostly rise as investors look ahead to U.S. Fed chair Powell’s speech

Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly higher Friday as investors await U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the central bank’s annual economic symposium, which could offer clues into the path of interest rates.

South Korea’s Kospi jumped 0.86% to close at 3,168.73 and the small-cap Kosdaq ended the day 0.68% higher at 782.51.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 closed flat at 42,633.29, while the Topix rose 0.58% to 3,100.87.

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.57% to close at 8,967.4 after the index crossed the 9,000 mark for the first time Thursday.

The country’s core inflation rate cooled to 3.1% in July, coming down from 3.3% the month before. The figure — which strips out costs for fresh food — was higher than the 3% expected by economists polled by Reuters. Rice inflation eased to 90.7% in July, following two months of inflation surging past the 100% mark.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 jumped over 2% to close at 4,378, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.32%.

India’s Nifty 50 slipped 0.67%, while the BSE Sensex index retreated 0.62%.

Overnight stateside, stocks fell broadly Thursday, with the S&P 500 sliding for the fifth day in a row.

The broad-market index shed 0.4% and closed at 6,370.17, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.34% and settled at 21,100.31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 152.81 points, or 0.34%, ending at 44,785.50.

Fed funds futures are pricing in a nearly 74% likelihood of the central bank cutting rates at its next policy gathering in September, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

— CNBC’s Yun Li and Pia Singh contributed to this report.