Asia markets largely rebound, with Hong Kong leading gains; Japan data in focus

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific markets largely climbed in the final trading day of the week, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index leading gains in the region and rising 2.67% in its final hour of trade.

This comes as traders assess to key economic data out of Japan, including the September inflation rate for Tokyo. The capital's data is seen as a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

Tokyo's consumer price index rose 2.8% in September from a year ago, softening from the 2.9% gain in August. The core inflation rate, which strips out prices of fresh food, came in at 2.5%, lower than the 2.6% expected by a Reuters poll.

Japan also saw unemployment, industrial output and retail sales data for August.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell marginally, extending losses from Thursday to finish at 31,857.62, while the Topix dropped 0.94% and closed at 2,323.29.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.34% to end at 7,048.6, rebounding after a three-day losing streak.

South Korean and mainland Chinese markets are closed for a holiday.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes rallied ahead of the U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index reading due Friday. The PCE reading is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric.

Wall Street is also keeping an eye on Washington, as lawmaker negotiations on a U.S. spending bill continue before a Oct. 1 shutdown deadline for the government..

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.35% The S&P 500 added 0.59%, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped about 0.83%.

— CNBC's Sarah Min, Lisa Kailai Han and Alex Harring contributed to this report.

Energy stocks drag Japan indexes, making it sole loser in Asia

Japan's benchmark indexes were in negative territory on Friday, the only major Asian market to do so.

Both the Nikkei 225 and Topix were down 0.05% and 0.94% respectively, mainly due to losses in energy stocks as oil prices retreat from their highest level in 13 months.

Light crude traded at $91.68 on Friday, while Brent traded at $95, down from their 13-month highs of $93.68 and $96.55, respectively.

The largest loser on the Nikkei was shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, down 5.23%, while power companies Kansai Electric Power Company and Chubu Electric Power Company also were on the list of top losers, shedding 4.8% and 4.6% respectively.

— Lim Hui Jie

Hang Seng jumps more than 2%, led by consumer cyclicals and real estate stocks

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index led gains in Asia and rose 2.45% as Asian markets largely rebounded from Thursday's losses, powered by consumer cyclicals and real estate stocks.

Tech firm Alibaba Health was the top gainer on the index, surging 7.94%, while other top gainers also include sports equipment retailer Li Ning and property services manager China Resources Mixc Lifestyle, a subsidiary of property firm China Resources Land.

— Lim Hui Jie

CNBC Pro: Expecting a recession? Here’s how investors can gain 40% with a simple bond trade

As interest rates peak, investment advisors now see opportunities for hefty gains through certain government bonds.

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— Ganesh Rao

Inflation in Tokyo grows at slowest rate in a year

Inflation in the Japanese capital grew at the slowest rate in a year, coming in at 2.8% for September compared to the 2.9% in August. The last time the inflation rate was this low was in September 2022.

The core inflation rate, which strips out prices of fresh food, stood at 2.5%, lower than the 2.6% expected by economists in a Reuters poll and also lower than August's 2.8%.

Tokyo's inflation rate is seen as a leading indicator of nationwide inflation trends.

— Lim Hui Jie

CNBC Pro: BofA reveals the global stocks that tend to outperform when the U.S. dollar rises

The U.S. dollar has been on a tear following the Federal Reserve's apparent commitment to higher-for-longer interest rates.

While economies and stock markets around the globe are likely to come under pressure in such a scenario, a raft of European stocks could actually gain from the rising U.S. dollar, according to the Bank of America.

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— Amala Balakrishner

Japan's industrial and retail activity better than expected, unemployment unchanged

Japan's factory output came in flat in August compared to July, defying expectations for a 0.8% fall forecast by economists polled by Reuters.

Year on year, industrial output slid for a third straight month, falling 3.7%.

Separately, retail sales rose 7% year on year, higher than expectations of 6.6% and at the same rate compared with July's revised figure of 7%

Japan's unemployment rate also remained unchanged, at 2.7% in August.

— Lim Hui Jie

Oil prices touch highest level in more than a year

Oil prices surged to their highest level in over a year during Asian trading hours, after crude stocks at a key storage hub fell to their lowest since July last year.

Crude inventories in Cushing, Oklahoma fell to 22 million barrels in the fourth week of September — hovering close to the operational minimum, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). That's a drop of 943,000 barrels compared to the prior week.

The U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures touched $95.03 per barrel during Asia trading hours, marking the highest since August 2022. They were last at $93.16 a barrel.

Global benchmark Brent were at $97.56 a barrel earlier in the session. They last traded at $96.03 a barrel.

— Lee Ying Shan, Sarah Min

GDP up 2.1% in Q3 as government announces revisions

Real gross domestic product increased 2.1% at an annualized pace in the second quarter, according to a third and final estimate the Commerce Department released Thursday. That was unchanged from the previous reading but below the Dow Jones estimate for 2.2%.

However, the government revised its previous readings on GDP, cutting first quarter growth for each of the years from 2020 to 2022.

The new readings, respectively, are -5.3%, 5.2% and -2%, compared to the previous -4.6%, 6.3% and -1.6%.

In other economic news Thursday, initial jobless claims totaled 204,000 for the week ended Sept. 23, according to the Labor Department. That was below the estimate for 214,000. Continuing claims rose to 1.67 million, up 12,000 and slightly below the FactSet estimate for 1.675 million.

—Jeff Cox

NYSE advancers lead decliners roughly 3-1

More than two stocks at the New York Stock Exchange rose for every decliner Thursday, as Wall Street tried to recoup some of September's steep losses. Overall, 1,976 NYSE-listed stocks were higher, while 719 fell.

— Fred Imbert

Retail investor pessimism climbs to 4-month high as optimism drops to 4-month low

Individual investor bearishness climbed to 40.9%, the highest since mid-May, from 34.6% last week, in the latest weekly survey by the American Association of Individual Investors. The survey asks investors their outlook for stocks over the next six months.

Conversely, optimism retreated to 27.8%, a four-month low, from 31.3% last week.

The historical average for bearishness is 31.0% and for bullishness is 37.5%.

Bullish sentiment is below its historical average for the sixth week in seven, and has dropped by 14.4 percentage points in just the past three weeks.

— Scott Schnipper