Fast Asia Open: China trade, Australia home loans, Japan producer inflation

After a day of solid returns from Wall Street, stocks in Asia are gearing up for a climb of their own.

US stocks climbed to record highs and the dollar staged a convincing rally against the yen on Thursday, and that momentum looks to have carried over into Friday’s Asia equities trading.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index has begun the day up 0.5 per cent, while futures tip Japan’s broad Topix index to open 1.6 per cent higher and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is expected to rise 0.3 per cent when trading starts.

Corporate earnings reports out today are few and far between, including NTT (14.00) and Inpex (14.00).

The economic calendar more than makes up for it, however (all times Hong Kong):

• 07.50: Japan producer price inflation
• 08.30: Australia home loans
• 08.30: Reserve Bank of Australia monetary policy statement
• 09.00: Philippines imports, exports and trade balance
• 10.00: China imports, exports and trade balance
• 12.00: Malaysia industrial production
• 15.30: Thailand foreign reserves
• 20.00: India industrial production