Asia markets mixed as Wall Street banking fears reignite

Singapore's industrial production for March dipped 4.2% year on year, performing better than Reuters' expectations of a 6.1% fall.

The reading marks the sixth consecutive contraction since October, and comes after November's figure of an 8.9% drop.

On a month-on-month basis, Singapore's manufacturing output data rose 9.3%, compared against a 11.7% decline in the previous month.

—Lee Ying Shan

More crypto firms will "move offshore" without clear rules on how they can operate in the U.S., said John Wu, president of U.S.-based blockchain company Ava Labs, on CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" Wednesday.

"There's not enough healthy conversation and dialogue, and the U.S. is going to continue to lose companies, development, and the capital markets will continue to move offshore," said Wu, adding that companies like the collapsed FTX had offshore operations.

His comments come after crypto exchange Coinbase filed a lawsuit against the SEC after months of silence from the regulator regarding clarity on crypto regulations.

"I'm really hoping that this is a catalyst for substantive communication between the regulators and the crypto companies in the U.S.," said Wu, referring to the lawsuit.

"So one way or the other, we need a relevant set of rules and dialogue. And that's not happening. And once that happens, it will be beneficial for everyone in the system," added Wu.

— Sheila Chiang

The Bank of America revised downwards South Korea's 2023 GDP growth forecast to 1.4% year on year from 1.9% previously.

The adjustment is a reflection of "persistent headwinds from tech cycle downturn and high interest rate environment," a report released by the bank stated.

"We expect the higher interest rate to gradually press households' spending capacity, and to see slower consumption growth in 2H23," BofA economists Benson Wu and Tim Him Ho wrote.

Headwinds from the tech cycle downturn could also weigh on both exports and facility investment this year, they added.

South Korea's headline GDP for the first quarter grew 0.8% year on year.

—Lee Ying Shan

Australia's inflation for the first quarter of 2023 slowed to 7% year-on-year, down from a 23-year high of 7.8% in the quarter ended December 2022.

This also marked the end of a streak of five straight increases in the consumer price index since the quarter ended September 2021.

The country's bureau of statistics reported that the largest contributors for the March quarter were costs of gas and household fuels, which surged 14.3%, as well as costs of tertiary education and domestic holiday travel, which increased 9.7% and 4.7% respectively.

The trimmed mean CPI - which excludes the most volatile 30% of items in the cost calculation - came in at 6.6%, compared to 6.9% in the previous quarter.

— Lim Hui Jie

South Korea's composite consumer index for April has improved to 95.1 points, 3.1 points higher than March's figure of 92.

The index tracks how optimistic consumers are about the performance of the economy, with a reading above 100 indicating an improving outlook and a reading below 100 pointing to a deteriorating outlook.

In a release, the Bank of Korea said consumer sentiment regarding current living standards was four points higher than in March, at 87, and that concerning the future outlook was three points higher than in the previous month, at 90.

The survey also showed that consumers' inflation for the upcoming year stood at 3.7%.

— Lim Hui Jie

Artificial intelligence (A.I.) related stocks have been on a tear since the start of the year, partly due to a surge in interest in chatbots.

But, for investors who might have missed that run-up in such stocks, HSBC has identified four Chinese stocks that are set to benefit from the growing trend.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

Hong Kong's total value of exports and imports in March both fell 1.5% and 0.6% year-on-year respectively.

On Tuesday, Hong Kong's census and statistics department said the total value of exports stood at $367.2 billion, while imports were at $407.8 billion in March.

Exports to mainland China continued to fall, and those to other major Asian markets saw mixed performance, while exports to the U.S. and the European Union reverted to growth.

— Lim Hui Jie

Markets have been volatile for much of 2022 and this year, thanks to inflation, U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hikes and the banking crisis.

Tech stocks were in bear territory for much of last year, but have been a bright spot so far in 2023 despite the uncertainty.

Ben Rogoff, a portfolio manager at Polar Capital with 25 years of investing experience, has a strategy for mitigating risk when investing in growth stocks such as tech.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Shares of First Republic continue to fall in afternoon trading. They were last down 44% and trading under $9 per share before trading was halted for volatility.

The bank said in its earnings release on Monday that it is considering strategic moves to help restructure its balance sheet. CNBC's David Faber reported earlier Tuesday that the next several days were key for the bank as it tries to reconcile a mismatch between its deposits and assets.

— Jesse Pound

Utility and consumer staple stocks were able to buck the S&P 500's slide on Tuesday.

Of the index's 11 sectors, the two were the only ones trading in the green with advances of around 0.3%. The other nine sectors traded in the red, pulling the broad index down 0.9%.

Energy was the worst performer of the 11 sectors with a loss of 1.8%.

— Alex Harring

Shares of First Republic extended their losses to more than 27% on Tuesday morning as investors reacted to a larger-than-expected decline in deposits at the troubled regional bank.

The stock is now down more than 90% year to date.

The stock also set a new intraday low for the year at $11.20 per share. The previous low water mark was $11.52 per share on March 20, according to FactSet.

— Jesse Pound

Fast food chain McDonald's rose nearly 1% in extended trading after the company reported first-quarter earnings that came in ahead of analysts' expectations.

The company reported $2.63 in adjusted earnings per share, higher than the $2.33 consensus estimate of analysts polled by Refinitiv. Revenue came in at $5.9 billion, which is higher than the $5.59 billion anticipated.

McDonald's also said U.S. traffic rose for the third quarter in a row, continuing to bring in customers despite rising menu prices.

— Alex Harring, Amelia Lucas

UPS shares fell more than 5% after the shipping giant reported quarterly results that missed analyst expectations.

The company earned an adjusted $2.20 per share on revenue of $22.93 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $2.21 per share on revenue of $23.01 billion, according to Refinitiv.

"Deceleration in U.S. retail sales resulted in lower volume than we anticipated, and we faced ongoing demand weakness in Asia," CEO Carol Tome said in a statement. "Given current macro conditions, we expect volume to remain under pressure."

— Fred Imbert