Asian Markets Rise After Weak U.S. Retail Sales

Asian markets opened moderately higher Wednesday as U.S. futures and commodity prices rose after Wall Street finished mixed following a discouraging U.S. retail sales report. Key indexes moved modestly—Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained about 0.3% to 27,265.52 and Shanghai added 0.3% to 4,139.56—while the S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 6,941.81, data that may inform Federal Reserve rate decisions.