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Asia markets mostly higher ahead of U.S. inflation report, FOMC minutes

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Sydney Harbour taking in the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and ferries at sunrise during the COVID-19 pandemic on April 20, 2020 in Sydney, Australia.
James D. Morgan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Markets in the Asia-Pacific were mostly higher on Wednesday as investors await key U.S. inflation data that will determine the Federal Reserve's path forward in its tightening cycle.

Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a 6% year-over-year increase in the U.S. consumer price index. Currently, the Fed is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points next month.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.57% to 28,082.7 and the Topix gained 0.76% to 2,006.92 as traders further digested Japan's producer price index and machinery orders report. Marine transportation, wholesale, and mining led gains while banks and transportation equipment saw moderate gains. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.11% to close at 2,550.64.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.47% to 7,343.9 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.05% in its final hour of trade. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.41% to 3,327.18 and the Shenzhen Component slid 0.05% to 11,883.51.

The International Monetary Fund warned that the global economy could be heading for the weakest growth since 1990, downgrading its outlooks for the coming years.


Overnight on Wall Street, tech stocks fell with the Nasdaq Composite shedding 0.43%. The S&P 500 ended Tuesday's session flat and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 98.27 points, or 0.29%.

Investors also looked ahead to key bank earnings from the U.S. as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup are set to report Friday. BlackRock and UnitedHealth Group are also scheduled to report.

— CNBC's Sarah Min, Hakyun Kim contributed to this report

New Zealand home prices see quarterly fall

Home prices in New Zealand saw the largest quarterly fall in more than 15 years, according to FactSet.

New Zealand property prices declined by an average of 3.9% since the start of the year and rose from the 2.7% pace seen a month ago, based on the latest QV house price index.

Auckland home values fell by 5.2% over the period as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand surprised markets by hiking its benchmark cash rate by more than expected at 50 basis points to 5.25%.

The S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.4% in Wednesday's trading session.

— Jihye Lee

Japan trading houses rise for a second trading day on Buffett's stake

Trading houses in Japan continued to see gains in Wednesday's afternoon session after Warren Buffett said that he's raised Berkshire Hathaway's stakes in all five trading houses to 7.4%, he told CNBC's Becky Quick. 

Shares of Mitsubishi Corp. rose 2.04% in Japan's afternoon trade, Mitsui & Co. gained 2.54%, Itochu Corp climbed 1.95% and Marubeni Corp. advanced 2.73%. 

Sumitomo Corp. also rose 2.82%.

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— Jihye Lee

CNBC Pro: These 7 global stocks are bucking the bearish trend, with analysts hiking price targets

Investors are bracing for a potentially rocky ride as the corporate earnings season kicks off this week.

Analyst estimates point toward a 6.8% decline in first-quarter earnings compared with the same period last year – which would be the biggest fall since the second quarter of 2020.

Despite this gloomy outlook, there are a handful of stocks that appear to be bucking the bearish trend. CNBC Pro found the following seven stocks that appear to be going against the grain.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

IMF advises Bank of Japan to have flexibility on yield curve control

The International Monetary Fund advised in its latest financial stability report said Japan's central bank should have more flexibility in its scheme to maintain the yield on its 10-year Japanese government bonds around 0%.

"While allowing more flexibility in the yield curve control policy could have some repercussions in global financial markets, such a change not only is warranted to meet monetary policy objectives but could also help prevent abrupt policy changes later that could trigger larger spillovers," the IMF said.

The international organization added that changes to the current monetary policy could have a wide range of repercussions.

"Changes to the Bank of Japan's yield curve control framework may affect international financial markets through three channels: exchange rates, term premiums on sovereign bonds, and global risk premiums," said the IMF in the report.

The yield on the 10-year JGB on Wednesday was at 0.466%, hovering around the yield curve control's upper ceiling limit of 0.5%.

— Jihye Lee

Chicago Fed President Goolsbee emphasizes need for 'prudence' in policy

Chicago Federal Reserve president Austan Goolsbee emphasized the need for 'prudence and patience' in monetary policy decision-making process.

Speaking at the Economic Club of Chicago, he said: "I think that at moments like this, of financial stress, the right monetary approach calls for prudence and patience—for assessing the potential impact of financial stress on the real economy."

Goolsbee noted tighter credit conditions will help tame inflationary pressures, adding that the agenda of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy are aligned.

"There is no conflict between our current monetary policy and these tighter credit conditions, especially if they are part of strengthening the financial system; they can work in tandem to help cool inflation," he said.

"But we also have to recognize that this combination could hit some sectors or regions in a way that looks different than if monetary policy was acting on its own," Goolsbee said.

— Jihye Lee

Fed's Kashkari sees U.S. inflation to be closer to 2% next year

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said he believes inflation in the U.S. economy will near the central bank's target of 2% in 2024.

Speaking at a town hall in Montana State University, he added that he's "less optimistic" than the bond market, which are pricing in a recession soon to come in the U.S., and that markets were also seeing a faster decline in inflation than his expectations.

He also highlighted he expects inflation to come down to "the mid threes" by the end of 2023.

The U.S. consumer price index rose 6% year-on-year in February, in line with expectations. The March inflation report is slated for release overnight.

— Jihye Lee

India's consumer price index expected to have cooled in March

India's inflation is expected to show a cooled picture for the month of March.

The consumer price index for India is expected to rise 5.8% year-on-year, less than the prior month's 6.44%, according to a Reuters poll.

India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, held its key repo rates steady last week at 6.5% after six consecutive hikes.

The central bank's governor Shaktikanta Das emphasized last week that the move is a "pause, not a pivot."

— Jihye Lee

South Korea's unemployment rate ticks up to 2.7%

South Korea's unemployment rate ticked up to 2.7% in March from the 2.6% seen in February, government data showed.

The nation's labor market showed some resilience in the past two months after the unemployment rate hit an 11-month high in December as the central bank aimed to bring down inflation in a global tightening cycle.

The Korean won stood at 1,322.7 against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday trading at slightly weaker levels, a day after the Bank of Korea decided to hold its benchmark interest rate steady for a second consecutive time.

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— Jihye Lee

Oil prices inch higher as investors look towards Fed rate hike decision

Oil prices rose during Asia's morning trade as the upcoming U.S. inflation data remains under spotlight as it would inform the Fed's next move on rate hikes.

Brent crude futures traded up 0.11% at $81.62 a barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed 0.15% to $85.74 a barrel.

– Lee Ying Shan

CNBC Pro: Citi just named 4 new picks, including a Buffett-backed stock it says could soar 70%

Citi just added four names to its recommended stock lists amid the market volatility.

The Wall Street bank gave 70% upside to one of the companies — which is also backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Japan's producer price index cools while machinery orders rise

Japan's producer price index rose 7.2% in March compared to a year ago, hotter than expectations to see an increase of 7.1% but lower than the prior reading of 8.2% seen in February.

Month-on-month, the reading was unchanged.

Machinery orders for February rose 9.8% year-on-year, higher than expectations to see a rise of 2.9% and higher than the prior reading of 4.5%.

The reading fell 4.5% in February month-on-month.

— Jihye Lee

New York Fed's Williams says central bank will stay data dependent

"We have to be driven by the data," New York Fed President John Williams told Yahoo Finance on Tuesday. "I will say that one thing that we're paying attention to is credit conditions but also do we really see signs of this underlying inflation coming down?"

Williams' comments come a day ahead of the release of the latest U.S. inflation figures. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a 6% year-over-year increase in the consumer price index. Currently, the Fed is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points next month.

— Fred Imbert

IMF says global economy heading for weakest growth since 1990

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday released its weakest global growth expectations for the medium term in more than 30 years.

The D.C.-based institution said that five years from now, global growth is expected to be around 3% — the lowest medium-term forecast in an IMF World Economic Outlook since 1990.

"The world economy is not currently expected to return over the medium term to the rates of growth that prevailed before the pandemic," the Fund said in its latest World Economic Outlook.

— Silvia Amaro

Information technology stocks lag

Information technology stocks lagged on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 sector last down 0.6%.

Microsoft and Salesforce led the sector's declines, falling 2% and 1.1%, respectively. Chip and software stocks also lost moved lower, with Advanced Micro Devices and Ceridian last down about 1% each.

Nvidia, Adobe, Arista Networks and Apple fell slightly.

— Samantha Subin

CNBC Pro: Morgan Stanley says this chip giant will be a long-term tech leader — and gives it 30% upside

Semiconductor stocks are outperforming this year, but one in particular is viewed by Morgan Stanley as a leader in the sector.

Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Zavier Ong

Chicago Fed president is keeping eye on credit conditions

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said Tuesday he's keeping an eye on credit conditions ahead of the central bank's May meeting.

"Foremost thing on my mind before our next meeting in May is trying to get a handle on this question about credit: is it actually credit tightening?" he said at the Economic Club of Chicago. Concerns over credit conditions heightened after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

— Fred Imbert

Warren Buffett sold Taiwan Semi partly due to geopolitical tensions, Nikkei reports

Warren Buffett revealed in an interview with Nikkei that his decision to dump a significant portion of Taiwan Semiconductor recently stemmed partially from geopolitical tensions.

The "Oracle of Omaha" sold 86% of his stake in the chipmaker in the fourth quarter. He had just bought the stock in the third quarter and made it Berkshire's 10th biggest holding.

Buffett said geopolitical tensions were "a consideration" in the divestment, the paper said. He called the Taiwanese chip company a well-managed one but said Berkshire had better places to deploy its capital.

— Yun Li