Melbourne city centre skyline alongside the Yarra River.
Loop Images | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets are set to rise ahead of minutes from Australia’s central bank and as investors assess inflation data from New Zealand, the first reading since the elections over the weekend.
New Zealand’s inflation rate hit a two-year low, coming in at 5.6% in the third quarter and down from 6% in the previous quarter.
The minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia will detail the central bank’s rationale for holding its benchmark lending rates at 4.1% during its October monetary policy meeting, the fourth straight month that it has kept rates unchanged.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.76% in early trade.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 is also set to rebound, with the futures contract in Chicago at 32,075 and its counterpart in Osaka at 31,990 against the index’s last close of 31,659.03.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 17,886, pointing to a weaker open compared with the HSI’s close of 17,640.36.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes gained, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher by 0.93% and marking its best day since September. The S&P 500 climbed 1.06%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.2%.
— CNBC’s Samantha Subin and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
