Asian Markets: US CPI, Yen Intervention

Core inflation, which excludes food and energy costs, rose 0.1% on the month and 3.3% from a year earlier, compared with expectations of 0.2% and 3.4%, respectively.

Early Friday morning, the yen suddenly rose against the dollar after the release of US inflation data, prompting analysts and traders to suspect possible intervention by the country’s finance ministry.

The yen was trading at 158.55 against the US dollar at around 12 a.m. Tokyo time after trading at around 161.52 late Thursday.

The British currency rose further against the US dollar, currently settling at 158.23.

Japan’s top currency diplomat Masato Kanda said on Friday that authorities will take necessary measures in the foreign exchange market.

Reuters also reported that Kanda said the recent moves in the yen had been fairly rapid, but declined to comment on whether authorities had intervened in the currency.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 2.29% on Friday, leading losses in Asia after three straight days of new closing highs and hitting an all-time high on Thursday. The Topix index also fell 1.24%.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.94%, while the smaller-cap Kosdaq index fell 0.19%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.23%, surpassing its all-time high close of 7,896.9 points set on March 28 and very close to its all-time high.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng futures were at 17,978, below the Hang Seng’s last close of 17,832.33.

The S&P 500 in the US fell from a record high overnight, as investors turned away from this year’s big tech winners, including Nvidia and Meta Platforms.

The general market index fell by 0.88%, retreating from the record level it touched earlier in the session.

The Nasdaq Composite Index also fell 1.95%, after also hitting a new record high earlier in the trading day, dragged down by a more than 5% drop in Nvidia shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.08%.

—CNBC’s Lisa Kaylai Han and Brian Evans contributed to this report.