Australian stocks hit record high as Asia-Pacific markets track Wall Street gains

Asia-Pacific markets were in the green with Australian equities notching a record high, tracking Wall Street gains after new U.S. economic data reports reflected strength in the economy and a slew of corporate earnings releases beat expectations.

Here is a live snapshot of how markets are faring:

Asia markets open Friday trading in the green

Asia markets started the trading day higher. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.39% at the open, while the Topix climbed 0.26% as of 8.02 a.m. local time (8.02 p.m. ET Tuesday).

South Korea's Kospi added 0.21% and the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.28% higher

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.44%.

Japans core inflation cools in June as expected, coming down from 29-month high as rice prices ease

Japan's core inflation cooled to 3.3% in June, coming down from a 29-month high of 3.7% as rice inflation showed signs of easing.

The figure — which strips out costs for fresh food — was in line with the 3.3% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

Headline inflation in the country dropped to 3.3%, coming down from 3.5% in May.

The so-called “core-core” inflation rate, which strips out prices of both fresh food and energy and is closely monitored by the BOJ, climbed to 3.4% from 3.3% in the month before.

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Here are the opening calls for the day

Happy Friday from Singapore!

Asia markets were poised to open higher heading into the weekends.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 40,105 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 40,060, against the index's last close at 39,901.19.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was also on track to start the day higher with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,650, compared with its last close of 8,639.

Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 24,674, pointing to a stronger open compared with the HSI's last close of 24,498.95.

Major stock indexes end Thursday higher

The S&P 500 added 0.54% to close at 6,297.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 229.71 points, or 0.52%, ending at 44,484.49. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose about 0.7% to settle the session at 20,885.65.

Crypto regulation bills move forward after record-setting House vote

The future of three crypto bills in Congress remains uncertain after two days of House Republican infighting over the contents of the legislation and the process for moving it.

Late Wednesday night, the House GOP finally approved the rules of debate for the crypto bills and an adjacent Pentagon appropriations package, allowing consideration for the bills. The vote was the longest-ever in the House.

The three bills in question include one, the GENIUS Act, which passed the Senate in June, and two others that are moving through the House first: The CLARITY Act and a bill that would bar the Federal Reserve from establishing a central bank digital currency.

Bitcoin has been trading at all-time highs in recent days, fueled by optimism on the crypto legislation and the institutional buying of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).