Asia markets rise as Japan December inflation hits its lowest since June 2022

Asia-Pacific markets rose as investors assessed Japan’s December inflation numbers — the last key data before the Bank of Japan’s first monetary policy meeting of 2023.

The world’s third-largest economy saw its headline inflation rate hit its lowest level since June 2022, cooling to 2.6% from 2.8% in November.

Japan’s core inflation rate — which strips out prices of fresh food — also fell to 2.3% from November’s figure of 2.5%, in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters.

The Bank of Japan kicks off its two day monetary policy meeting on Jan. 22, and will announce its decision the next day.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rebounded after two straight days of losses, climbing 1.4%, while the Topix climbed 0.98%.

South Korea’s Kospi also rose 1.14%, and the small-cap Kosdaq saw a larger gain of 1.37%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.32%, recovering after three straight days of losses.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 15,390 pointing to a flat open compared with the HSI’s last close of 15,391.79.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes rebounded, powered by tech companies.

Most notably, Apple gained 3.3% after Bank of America upgraded the stock to buy, calling for more than 20% upside over the next 12 months. The tech giant had its best day since May 5, 2023.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.54%, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.88% to end at just 15.62 points from its closing record of 4,796.56.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite posted the largest gain, jumping 1.35%.

— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report