SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific edged higher in Thursday morning trade, as investors looked ahead to an upcoming release of U.S. inflation data for May.

The Shanghai composite in mainland China gained 0.44% while the Shenzhen component climbed 0.677%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.57%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was 0.46% higher while the Topix index gained 0.21%. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.34%.

Shares in Australia nudged higher, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.48%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.55% higher.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.173 after recently bouncing from below the 90 level.

The Japanese yen traded at 109.52 per dollar, weaker than levels around 109.2 against the greenback seen earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7733, having seen a recent drop from about $0.776.

Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 0.69% to $71.72 per barrel. U.S. crude futures shed 0.7% to $69.47 per barrel.