Night view of the Lujiazui financial district in downtown Shanghai.
Yongyuan Dai | E+ | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets opened lower Friday as investors brace for a slate of economic data from China.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded flat.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.21% at the open, while the Topix lost 0.48%. South Korea’s Kospi traded around the flatline while the Kosdaq shed 0.11%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures last traded at 19,478, also weaker than the HSI’s previous close of 19,522.89.
China is slated to report its industrial output and retail sales data for December, as well as fourth quarter GDP numbers. Reuters estimates China’s fourth-quarter GDP growth to come in at 5% year on year, compared with 4.6% in the previous quarter.
Investors will also be looking at Singapore’s non-oil exports data for December.
Overnight in the U.S., the major averages gave up gains from earlier in the day with the S&P 500 slipping to end a three-day winning streak as big tech shares pulled back.
The broad market index slid 0.21% to 5,937.34. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.89% to 19,338.29. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 68.42 points, or 0.16%, to 43,153.13.
—CNBC’s Hakyung Kim and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
