Asian stocks traded higher on Friday, tracking gains seen on Wall Street overnight, with the Dow Jones industrial average notching its sixth consecutive day of gains in the last session.

The Nikkei 225 was up 0.69 percent in Tokyo and the broader Topix gained 0.49 percent. The materials sector was weaker in the morning, with the Topix mining subindex down 2.86 percent, but those declines were offset by gains in the technology sector, among others.

In Seoul, the Kospi climbed 0.49 percent, aided by the move higher in the tech and auto sectors, with heavyweight Samsung Electronics up 0.58 percent.

The Hang Seng Index was up 0.83 percent. All sectors traded higher in the morning, with technology shares and financials climbing.

Mainland markets, meanwhile, searched for direction, with the Shanghai composite edging higher by 0.03 percent and the Shenzhen composite slipping 0.06 percent.

Over in Sydney, the SP/ASX 200 tacked on 0.15 percent amid broad-based gains, although the heavily weighted financials sector traded lower by 0.25 percent.

Markets in Malaysia remained closed on Friday for a special holiday following the landmark general election win by Mahathir Mohamad’s opposition alliance. Mahathir, who was prime minister of Malaysia between 1981 and 2003, was sworn in as the prime minister late on Thursday.

The iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF, which had initially dropped more than 6 percent in reaction to the surprise election outcome, regained 1.76 percent on Thursday. A knee-jerk reaction that will likely be “more negative than positive” is expected when markets reopen next week “as investors had been pricing in continuity of previous government policy,” Prakash Sakpal, Asia economist at ING, said in a note.

MSCI’s broad index of shares in Asia Pacific, excluding Japan, was up 0.66 percent.

Overall gains in the region came on the back of Wall Street’s sharp gains in the last session, which also saw the Dow close positive for 2018. The overnight advance stateside followed the release of weaker-than-expected U.S. inflation data in the last session.

The consumer price index rose 0.2 percent in April, compared to the 0.3 percent rise forecast in a Reuters poll. The lighter-than-forecast number eased concerns about the Federal Reserve tightening monetary policy at a faster rate than the market is expecting.

Geopolitics remained a focus in commodities markets, with oil prices steady during Asia morning trade. On Thursday, U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were off by 0.08 percent at $71.30 per barrel and Brent crude futures edged down by 0.21 percent to trade at $77.31.

Oil had settled slightly higher in the last session amid investor concerns over the impact of renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran oil exports. President Donald Trump had announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal earlier this week.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said Brent crude prices could rise as high as $100 per barrel on the back of factors including geopolitics.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was softer following the release of U.S. inflation data on Thursday. The index traded at 92.666 at 9:32 a.m. HK/SIN after touching as high as 93.42 earlier this week. Against the yen, the dollar traded at 109.29.

On the earnings front, results are expected from Samsung Life Insurance, NTT, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust.

In corporate news, Australia’s AMP was down 5.05 percent in morning trade, underperforming other Australian bank shares. Its stock was downgraded to neutral from outperform by Macquarie Equities, Reuters said.

What’s on tap

Here’s the economic calendar for Friday (all times in HK/SIN):

• 4:00 p.m.: China new yuan loans
• 8:00 p.m.: India industrial production

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.