Regional stocks edged up in opening trades on Monday, taking their cue from an encouraging report on inflation that could help the US Federal Reserve keep cutting interest rates next year and a strong profit report from Micron Technology that also helped AI stocks halt their sharp slides, at least for now.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 136 points, or 0.53 percent, in opening trades on Friday at 25,634.

On the mainland, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.05 percent at 3,878 while the Shenzhen Component Index was 0.48 percent higher at 13,116 and the ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, was up 0.89 percent at 3,134.

In Tokyo, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average opened up 386 points, or 0.79 percent, at 49,387 while Seoul saw the Korea Composite Stock Price Index up 61 points, or 1.53 percent, at 4,055.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.8 percent on Thursday, breaking a four-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 65 points, or 0.1 percent, and the strength for tech stocks sent the Nasdaq composite up a market-leading 1.4 percent.

Some relief came from a report showing that inflation was less bad last month than economists expected. That could soothe nerves at the Fed, which is responsible for keeping inflation low and for keeping the job market strong.

Inflation is still higher than anyone would like, at 2.7 percent last month, but if it creeps closer to the Fed’s target of 2 percent, Fed officials could feel more free to cut interest rates to help a slowing job market. Wall Street loves lower rates because they can boost the economy and prices for investments, even if they may also worsen inflation.

To be sure, some along Wall Street said Thursday’s inflation update may not move the needle much at the Fed given how noisy economic reports have been following the US government’s earlier shutdown. Next month’s update on inflation could provide a better gauge of what’s actually happening. But a better-than-expected report on inflation is nevertheless better than the alternative.

Also helping to drive the US stock market was Micron Technology, the seller of memory and storage for computers, which rallied 10.2 percent after reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said each of the company’s business units enjoyed stronger revenue and made more in profit off each $1 of that revenue.

Micron also gave forecasts for upcoming profit and revenue that blew past analysts’ expectations, and Mehrotra credited its position as an “AI enabler,” among other things. (Agencies/Xinhua)