British News Agency

In Asia, investors will react to August inflation figures out from India late Thursday. The figures showed that the consumer price index rose 3.65 percent year on year, rising from a five-year low. 

Mainland China’s CSI 300 was marginally up, rebounding from a near six-year low. The index closed at 3,127.47 on Thursday, the lowest point since January 2019, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.21 percent, nearing its all-time high of 8,148.7.

South Korea’s Kospi was 0.26 percent down, while the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.42 percent lower. Shares of chip heavyweight Samsung Electronics slipped almost 3 percent as workers in its India plant reportedly went on strike for a fifth consecutive day.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.89 percent, while the broad-based Topix was also down 0.84 percent. On Friday, the yen strengthened 0.49 percent against the U.S. dollar to 141.1. The currency briefly touched a low of 140.78, approaching the nine-month low of 140.7 reached on Wednesday. The Hong Kong Hang Seng index gained 1.11 percent.

The S&P 500 gained 0.75 percent, marking a four-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.58 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite saw the largest gain, rising 1 percent.

Thursday saw the last major data point for the U.S. economy before the Federal Reserve meeting next week, as the country’s producer price index rose 0.2 percent month on month, in line with expectations from Dow Jones. On a year-on-year basis, the headline PPI rose 1.7 percent.