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Asia Pacific stocks edged higher in Friday morning trade following the release of mixed U.S. economic data overnight.

In Japan, both the Nikkei 225 and Topix indexes rose 0.93% each in early trade. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.28%.

Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.34%.

Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 0.35% higher.

The U.S. Labor Department said Thursday that initial weekly jobless claims stateside came in above 1 million. That was higher than a Dow Jones estimate of 923,000. Still, continuing claims — those receiving unemployment benefits for at least two straight weeks — continued to decline.

Meanwhile, shares of Alibaba listed in Hong Kong will be watched by investors after the Chinese tech behemoth announced a 34% on-year increase in revenue in the quarter ended June 30.

Reference: CNBC