Asia markets track Wall Street gains, Singapore budget on tap

Asia-Pacific markets rose Friday, tracking Wall Street gains, with the S&P 500 notching a fresh record high.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.91%, while South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.84%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 opened 1.56% higher, extending gains a day after the country lost its spot as the fourth-largest economy to Germany and entered into a technical recession. Economic slowdown has raised hopes Japan may stick with its ultra-loose monetary policy for longer.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 16,004 pointing to a stronger start compared with the HSI’s close of 15,944.63.

Mainland China markets remain closed for the Chinese New Year holidays.

Investors await Singapore 2024 budget, slated to be released later in the day.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes ended trading session in positive territory, after clawing back the steep losses suffered earlier in the week.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.58%, settling at 5,029.73 to close at a new record high, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.30% to close at 15,906.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 348.85 points higher, or 0.91%, to end at 38,773.12.

— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.