Asia-Pacific markets set for mixed open after sell-off; Tokyo and U.S.

Asia-Pacific markets were set for a mixed open on Friday, after Thursday’s sell-off saw some indexes in the region hit their lowest level in months.

The sell-off came as investors rotated out of tech on Wall Street, pushing major U.S. indexes on Wednesday lower, with the S&P and Nasdaq extending their losses by 0.51% and 0.93% respectively on Thursday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%.

“There’s a changing of the guard happening on Wall Street. The AI stocks that led on the way up are now leading on the way down,” said Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments, adding that these movements are not uncommon during a bull market “great mini rotation.”

In Asia, traders will watch July inflation data out of Japan’s capital city of Tokyo, which is widely considered a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

Economists polled by Reuters expect Tokyo’s core inflation rate — which strips out prices of fresh food — to come in at 2.2%, up from 2.1% in June.

The yen will also be closely watched, after it strengthened sharply against the dollar in the past week. The currency is currently trading at 153.56 against the greenback.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a weaker open for the market, with the futures contract in Chicago at 37,835 and its counterpart in Osaka at 37,700 compared to the previous close of 37,869.51.

Futures for Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 stood at 7,865, slightly higher than their last close of 7,861.2

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were at 17,084, lower than the HSI’s last close of 17,004.97.

—CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Sarah Min contributed to this report.