Asia markets set for higher open following moves higher on Wall Street

Asia markets were set for a higher open on the final trading day of the week, following the rebound of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wall Street overnight.

The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 24,070, while its counterpart in Osaka was at 24,050. The Nikkei 225 last closed at 23,796.74.

Down Under, the SPI futures contract was at 6,198.0 as compared to the ASX 200's last close at 6,181.2.

In market action overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 climbed by 0.3 percent to 2,914, snapping a four-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also ended a three-day slide, gaining 54.65 points to 26,439.93. The Nasdaq Composite also saw gains of 0.7 percent to 8,041.97.

The moves on Wall Street came after the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday for the third time in 2018. The central bank also removed the word "accommodative" from its statement.

Meanwhile, the ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China continue to weigh on market sentiments, with President Donald Trump accusing China on Wednesday of intending to interfere in November's congressional elections.

In currency news, the U.S. dollar index which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers was at 94.894 as of 7:05 a.m. HK/SIN, following its overnight rally on the back of economic policy uncertainty in Italy.

"Throughout most of the overnight trading session, there were growing doubts Italy's coalition government would manage to timely agree on a 2019 budget target," Elias Haddad, senior currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a morning note.

Commenting on the Italian government's eventual agreement to set the 2019 budget deficit at 2.4 percent of GDP, Haddad said: "This is a bigger deficit target than the 2% aimed by Italy's economy minister but well within the 3% budget deficit target (in structural terms) imposed by the EU's Stability and Growth Pact."

The Japanese yen traded largely flat at 113.40 against the greenback, while the Australian dollar was slightly weaker at $0.72, as of 7:08 am.m HK/SIN.

Here is a look at the market data that is set to be released today:

• China — Caixin September manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index at 9:45 a.m. HK/SIN
• Singapore — August Producer Price Index at 1 p.m. HK/SIN

— CNBC's Fred Imbert and Reuters contributed to this report.

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