A train loaded with coal ready to leave a coal mine of China Energy Investment Corporation on January 14, 2023, in Ejin Horo Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China.
Wang Zheng | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets will open higher on Friday as some markets return from Boxing Day and investors pay close attention to a slew of economic data in the region.
Australia S&P/ASX200 saw an increase of 0.49% as trading resumed after Christmas and Boxing Day.
Japan's Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a stronger market open, with the Chicago futures contract at 39,745 and its Osaka counterpart at 39,700 compared to the previous close of 39,568.06.
Traders in Asia will assess Japan's unemployment rate in November, as well as Tokyo's CPI inflation later in the day. China is also expected to release industrial profit data for November.
Night in the USA Dow Jones Industrial Average pared earlier losses and squeezed out a modest gain in weak trading Thursday after strong market gains at the start of the holiday week.
The largest Dow index closed the day 28.77 points, or 0.07%, higher at 43,325.80 after losing about 182 points earlier in the session. The S&P500 fell 2.45 points, or 0.04%, to 6,037.59. The Nasdaq Composite also ended the day lower, falling less than 0.1% to 20,020.36.
—CNBC's Yun Li contributed to this report.