06:40 AM EDT, 08/30/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets forged ahead Friday on sentiments that global interest rates will ease and that odds of a US recession are receding.

Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo finished in green as did other regional exchanges, with Mumbai's Sensex gaining 0.3% to strike an all-time record high.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened evenly but rose to the close, finishing up 0.7% as a firming yen boosted export issues.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 285.22 to 38,647.75, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 155 to 67.

Leading the upside was Furukawa Electric, up 4.7%, while medical device maker Terumo fell 2.9%.

In economic news, Tokyo's headline consumer price index (CPI) rose 2.6% in August from a year earlier, still notching above the Bank of Japan's 2% annual target on the nation's CPI.

However, Tokyo's core CPI, that strips out fresh food bills, rose 2.4% on year in August, and the core-core CPI, that additionally removes energy bills, rose 1.6% on-year in the same 12-month period, reported Statistics of Japan.

In other news, retail sales in Japan in July rose 2.6% on year, and gained a seasonally adjusted 0.2% from June, reported the Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry (METI).

Industrial output in Japan in July rose 2.8% from June, boosted by production of semiconductor equipment and electrical devices, METI also reported.

Japan's official unemployment rate struck 2.7% in July, up from 2.5% in June, but there were a seasonally adjusted 124 job openings for every job hunter, reported the Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rallied from the opening and finished up 1.1%, as property issues staged a powerful rally.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 202.75 to 17,989.07, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 60 to 18. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 2.9% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 4.2%.

Leading the upside was property-management concern China Resources Mixc Lifestyle Services, up 8.8%, while China Merchants Bank declined 4.3%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.7% to 2,842.21.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 0.5%; the Taiwan TWSE inclined 0.3%; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.6%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 1.1%, and the Thai Set inclined 0.1%.