Asian Stocks Follow Wall Street's Lead Amid Easing Inflation Fears

Hong Kong and most of Asia followed Wall Street's lead as stocks rose on Friday. The advances came after another soft US inflation reading, which solidified expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold off hiking interest rates.

Data showed the producer price index slowed sharply in July and came in below forecasts. This compounded bets on the Fed standing pat at its meeting next month, following previous days' readings that also pointed to easing inflationary pressure and last Friday's jobs report showing 23,000 positions were lost in July.

Investors are now pricing in a less than 40 percent chance of a September rate hike, compared with 50 percent last week. The market has steadily stripped away the case for another near-term Fed hike, said Stephen Innes, global strategist at Quintex Intel.