Asia-Pacific markets: Live updates

SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly higher on Thursday, following gains on Wall Street that saw the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average reach new records as investors shrugged off geopolitical concerns.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3% in early trade South Korea’s Kospi jumped 0.6%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was down 0.4%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was trading up 0.3%, while the broad-based Topix gained 0.2%.

Traders in Asia were assessing September data on producer prices in Japan which rose 2.8% from a year ago. Economists polled by Reuters had predicted the inflation rate would come in at 2.3%, down from 2.5% in August.

Japanese retailer Seven & i Holdings Co. will report its quarterly earnings on Thursday, with much of the focus on what it will say about restructuring and outlook after it reportedly received a higher buyout offer from Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. Seven & i shares were up just 0.6% on Thursday.

The mainland CSI 300 was up nearly 3%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up over 4%.

Chinese stocks rebounded after their rally stalled on Wednesday, with the CSI 300 breaking a 10-day rally to drop 7%. The rally was triggered by a blitz of stimulus measures at the end of September.

China’s Finance Ministry will hold a press briefing on Oct. 12, during which they may provide additional insights into fiscal policy and economic development.

Speaking to “Street Signs Asia” on Thursday, Chetan Ahya, Chief Asia Economist at Morgan Stanley, said that Beijing would need to announce a 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) fiscal stimulus focused on boosting consumption to create a sustained turn around in investor confidence.

“That’s not what we are saying they’ll do, but we think that they’ll need something like that to get the economy out of deflation,” Ahya said.

Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 rallied 0.71% to end at 5,792.04 after hitting an all-time high, while the 30-stock Dow surged 431.63 points, or 1.03%, to reach 42,512 for a record close. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6% to end at 18,291.62.

Wall Street maintained its gains after the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, in which it cut by a half percentage point, revealed that a “substantial majority of participants” had favored reducing interest rates by the larger amount.

The strong trading day also came despite lingering fears of a broader war in the Middle East as Israel promises to launch a retaliatory strike against Iran.

— CNBC’s Samantha Subin and Sarah Min contributed to this report.