Japan trade, Australia unemployment, China housing, Philippines central bank

Asia Pacific markets traded higher on Thursday as investors digested Japan’s record trade deficit of 3.5 trillion yen ($26 billion) - according to Refinitiv data that dates back to March 2006. Investors also digested a stronger than expected U.S. retail sales report from Wall Street. The Japanese yen slightly strengthened following the trade data release - the Nikkei 225 rose 0.65% and the Topix inched up 0.53%. In South Korea, the Kospi rose 1.5% and the Kosdaq rose 2.02%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was trading 0.85% higher, as unemployment figures for January came in higher than economists expected. In…