Asia markets mostly poised for slight rise as U.S. inflation cools further

Neon ads in Dotonbori district, Osaka, Kansai region, Japan

Alexander Spatari | Moment |

Asia-Pacific markets are largely set to rise, following gains on Wall Street and ahead of private factory activity surveys from across the region.

Most notably, investors will be watching China's Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers' index for November, after official numbers Thursday showed the country's manufacturing sector contracting for a second straight month .

PMI readings are also due from Japan, South Korea and India on Friday.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 inched down 0.38% in early trade, after a three-day winning streak this week.

In contrast, Japan's Nikkei 225 could extend its winning streak to four days, with the futures contract in Chicago at 33,560 and its counterpart in Osaka at 33,540 against the index's last close of 33,486.89.

Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 17,052, also pointing to a positive open compared with the HSI's close of 17,042.88.

Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a new high for the year, as cooling inflation data and strong Salesforce earnings help the benchmark cap its best month since October 2022.

The S&P 500 added 0.4%, but the Nasdaq Composite was about 0.2% lower as investors took some profits in Big Tech stocks that have led the November comeback.

Separately, the U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index — the Federal Reserve's favorite inflation gauge — rose 3.5% on a year-over-year basis, slowing from a 3.7% annual gain in prior month.

— CNBC's Pia Singh and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.