Japanese and Australian stocks rise

Japanese and Australian markets rose in choppy trade Thursday after swings on Wall Street overnight, as data pointing to a contraction in the U.S. economy in the first quarter heightened investors’ fears of a looming recession.

Several Asia-Pacific markets, including South Korea, Hong Kong, China and India were closed for the Labor Day holiday.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 increased by 0.34% in choppy trade while the broader Topix index was flat.

The country’s central bank is widely expected to stand pat on interest rates at 0.5% and cut its growth forecasts in its two-day monetary policy meeting, which concludes later in the day.

Yields on 10-year Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) was down 0.01 basis points to 1.312% ahead of the Bank of Japan’s decision. Meanwhile, yields on 20-year JGBs climbed 0.11 basis points to 2.210%.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark added 0.16% in choppy trade.

The country’s surplus on trade goods widened sharply to 6.9 billion Australian dollars ($4.42 billion) in March, from a revised reading of 2.85 billion Australian dollars the month before.

The latest number is well above the 3.9 billion Australian dollar surplus forecast in a Reuters poll and comes as iron ore exports recovered from weather disruptions and gold shipments climbed, data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed.

In this time, Australia’s exports jumped 7.6% year-on-year, while imports declined 2.2%.

U.S. futures jumped after two of the so-called “Magnificent Seven” stocks — Meta Platforms and Microsoft — posted their quarterly results.

In extended trading, shares of Meta advanced more than 4% on stronger-than-expected revenue in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s shares surged 8%, after delivering better-than-expected results on the top and bottom lines in the fiscal third quarter, as well as strong results from its Azure cloud business and upbeat guidance.

Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 and the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average notched their seventh consecutive winning day despite the volatility.

The broad-based market index advanced 0.15% to close at 5,569.06, while the Dow Jones index added 141.74 points, or 0.35%, settling at 40,669.36.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite ended the day flat at 17,446.34.

— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.