Hong Kong leads Asia markets climb after U.S. data calms recession fears; Australia nears all time high

Asia-Pacific markets climbed Friday after economic data from the U.S. calmed recessionary fears, while investors also assessed a slew of data from Japan.

Initial jobless claims in the U.S. fell to 231,000 from the prior week’s 232,000, but were slightly higher than the 230,000 expected by Dow Jones.

In addition, the second-quarter gross domestic product growth was revised higher to 3% from the initial 2.8% rate.

Inflation rate in Japan’s capital city of Tokyo rose to 2.6% from June’s 2.2%, hitting its highest since March.

The core inflation rate — which strips out prices of fresh food — rose 2.4%, higher than the 2.2% expected from a Reuters poll of economists. Tokyo’s inflation is widely considered to be a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

Stronger inflation numbers offer the Bank of Japan more room too tighten its monetary policy.

Unemployment in Japan rose to 2.7%, more than the Reuters estimate of 2.5%.

Retail sales in the country rose 2.6% year on year, lower than the 2.9% growth expected by Reuters and the revised 3.8% increase seen in June.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.3%, and the Topix also climbed 0.37% after the data release.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index gained 1.81%, leading markets in Asia, while mainland China’s CSI 300 rose 1.72%.

South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.6%, while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 0.92%. South Korea’s retail sales dipped 1.9% month on month compared to June. On a year-on-year basis, retail sales fell 2.1%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.35%, coming within 30 points of its all-time closing high of 8,114.7.

Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to a new record, up 0.59% and closing at 41,335.05. Gains in Goldman Sachs, Intel and Visa helped lift the blue-chip average to a new high.

The S&P 500 ended the session just below the flatline, but the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.23%, dragged by shares of chipmaker Nvidia, which slid 6.4%.

—CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Sarah Min contributed to this report.