This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Asia-Pacific markets mostly lost ground on Friday, with investors assessing November inflation numbers from Japan's capital of Tokyo and industrial production figures from South Korea.
The November headline inflation rate in Tokyo came in at 2.6%, a rebound from the 1.8% seen in October.
Core inflation, which excludes costs of fresh food, rose to 2.2% compared with Reuters poll expectations of 2.1%.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
Tokyo's inflation numbers are widely considered to be an indicator of nationwide trends.
Separately, South Korea's industrial production saw a 2.3% increase year on year in October, marking a reversal from the 1.3% fall in September.
Still, the country's benchmark index, Kospi, fell 1.74% while the small-cap Kosdaq dropped 1.75%.
Money Report
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.59% after the inflation data release, while the broad-based Topix was 0.35% lower.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.35%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index bucked the trend and gained 0.21% in early trade, while mainland China's CSI 300 was marginally down.
U.S. markets were closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday, and will be open only for a half day on Friday.
Yen appreciates to strongest level in five weeks against greenback
The Japanese yen appreciated to its strongest level in about five weeks, at under 150 against the U.S. dollar on Friday.
The move comes after inflation in Japan's capital city of Tokyo accelerated in November, which could support the case for a rate hike by the Bank of Japan in its December meeting.
The headline inflation rate in Japan's capital climbed to 2.6% from 1.8%, while core inflation came in at 2.2%, above expectations of 2.1% from economists polled by LSEG.
— Lim Hui Jie
India competition watchdog to investigate Google's gaming app policy
India's competition watchdog on Thursday ordered a probe into Google's restrictive policies for real-money games on its platform, following a complaint by online gaming platform WinZO that called it discriminatory.
The move compounds Google's regulatory headaches in India, where it has already been hit with at least two penalties for abusing its dominant position in the Android operating system market.
Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment made after working hours in India and with the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.
WinZO, which offers real-money games, first approached the Competition Commission of India in 2022, after a change in the U.S. company's gaming app policy continued to exclude WinZO from Google's Play Store, even as it accepted some of its competitors.
— Reuters
CNBC Pro: 7 stocks to buy before the year-end, according to the pros
As investors prepare their portfolios for 2025, Wall Street's finest have identified several European companies they believe offer significant growth potential despite market uncertainties.
Morgan Stanley downgraded European equities to neutral earlier this year. Yet, they suggest "Europe is a stock picker's market" now since equities on the continent have begun to diverge from each other in terms of performance.
Meanwhile, investment firm Bernstein's top 10 picks outperformed the MSCI Europe Small index by 5 percentage points since the end of October.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Ganesh Rao
How to 'tariff-hedge' your European portfolio, according to TS Lombard
As Europe faces the prospect of tariffs on its exports to the United States, TS Lombard has advised investors in the region on how to "tariff-hedge" their portfolios.
In a note this week, Davide Oneglia, director of European and global macro at TS Lombard, advised European investors to address their "tariff risk" by looking at their exposure "in the way Donald Trump ... does, i.e. in terms of the USD value of the U.S. deficit/surplus in goods by country and sector."
He suggested three key ways investors could protect their portfolios.
Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Holly Ellyatt