"Asia Markets Await US Data Amid Central Bank Speculation and Mixed Trading"

Asian shares trade mostly sideways near seven-month highs as investors await clarity on the global interest rate easing cycle, with Japan's Nikkei snapping a three-day losing streak but still on track for its steepest weekly decline in three months. Attention turns to U.S. producer price data and retail sales figures for February ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week, while speculation swirls about a potential policy pivot from the Bank of Japan. The dollar struggles to break away from recent lows, and in China, the blue-chip CSI300 Index and Shanghai Composite Index both fall more than 0.6% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slides 1% due to news of a global trade association representing biotechnology companies taking steps to "separate" from a Chinese member.