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Hong Kong stocks tumble almost 2%; Asia markets fall across the board

Jihye Lee
Lim Hui Jie

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

Singapore's Marina Bay waterfront.
Nicky Loh | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Asia-Pacific markets were lower Friday as investors look to inflation data out of Japan and Singapore, as well as flash estimates from the au Jibun bank on Japan's manufacturing and services activity.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slid 1.61% in its final hour of trade, leading losses in the region as it comes back from a public holiday, dragged by health-care and tech stocks. Mainland Chinese markets are closed for a public holiday Friday.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 pared some losses, but still fell 1.45% to 32,781.54, ending an eight-day run above the 33,000 mark. The Topix also fell 1.38%, mainly due to industrials and closed at 2,264.73.

Japan's core inflation rate in May eased slightly to 3.2% year-on-year, lower than April's 3.4% but still above the BOJ's 2% target. The May core inflation rate was slightly above the 3.1% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.91% to close at 2,570.10 after a slight rebound on Thursday, with the Kosdaq also slipping 0.18% and ending the day at 874.94.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.34% and closed at 7,099.2, marking a third straight day of losses. The decline follows its largest one-day fall in June on Thursday.


Overnight in the U.S., both the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 snapped a three-day losing streak and finished higher, with the Nasdaq up by 0.95% and the S&P 0.37% higher. In contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell slightly, extending its losing streak to four days.

— CNBC's Sarah Min and Yun Li contributed to this report

Singapore inflation rate slows to 5.1%, lowest since March 2022

Singapore's consumer price index rose 5.1% year-on-year in May, less than the 5.5% expected by economists polled by Reuters and the lowest since March 2022.

The headline inflation rate was also lower than the 5.7% recorded in April, while MAS core inflation — which strips out prices for accommodation and private transport — came in at 4.7%, easing slightly from the 5% in April.

— Lim Hui Jie

Malaysia's inflation eases for third straight month to 2.8%

Malaysia's inflation rate eased to 2.8% in May, its third straight month of decline and the eighth month of decline in nine months.

Government data showed that inflation was mainly driven by increase in prices in restaurants and hotels, as well as for food and non-alcoholic beverages.

However, the slower increase in transport prices offset to a certain extent Malaysia's inflation from rising higher, the country's statistics department said.

— Lim Hui Jie

Japan's business activity expanded at a slower rate in June: au Jibun bank

Japan's business activity expanded at a slower rate in June, according to flash estimates by the au Jibun bank.

The composite purchasing managers index fell to 52.3 in June, compared to 54.3 in May.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Manufacturing activity notably fell into contraction territory, with the manufacturing PMI at 48.4 compared to May's 50.9.

Services remained in expansionary territory, but saw a softer rise. June PMI came in at 54.2 compared to 55.9 in May.

— Lim Hui Jie

Japan inflation rate slows in May, but core inflation still higher than expected

Japan's headline inflation rate came in at 3.2% in May, easing from the 3.5% recorded in April.

Core inflation — which strips out prices of fresh food — also came in at 3.2%, lower than April's 3.4%, but slightly above the 3.1% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

This reading was the 14th straight month that the consumer price index had stayed above the Bank of Japan's price target of 2%.

— Lim Hui Jie

CNBC Pro: Morgan Stanley says China's A.I. evolution is at an 'inflection point,' naming 3 stocks to play it

China's artificial intelligence evolution is at an "inflection point," and the Asian giant is catching up with the U.S. in this area, according to Morgan Stanley.

In fact, the bank estimates there's a $7.4 trillion AI opportunity in China.

It named three Chinese tech stocks which are also listed in the U.S as potential beneficiaries

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— Weizhen Tan

Powell says Fed can ease off the pace of rate hikes

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell faced multiple questions Thursday about where interest rates are heading, but he said the focus instead should be on how quickly the Fed is moving.

Policymakers, he insisted, are still committed to using rates to bringing down inflation, but are going to move more slowly than they had been during an aggressive run of hikes going back to March 2022.

"I think the data will tell us what to do," Powell told members of the Senate Banking Committee. "I think the point of our ... last meeting was really to moderate the pace of our decision making on this, because you know, it was very important to move quickly last year, and we did. It's not so important now."

—Jeff Cox

Oil falls more than 4%

Oil traded down more than 4% after the larger-than-anticipated interest rate hike from the Bank of England overshadowed crude inventory slides.

Brent futures slipped $3.33, or 4.3%, to trade at $73.79 a barrel. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, called WTI for short, dropped $3.41, which equates to 4.7%, to sit at $69.12 per barrel.

The English bank's hike was top of mind on Thursday, despite news of U.S. supply falling, which surprised analysts.

— Alex Harring

Fed's Bowman backs additional interest rate hikes

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman is among the central bankers who think interest rates will need to increase more to bring down inflation to acceptable levels.

The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, of which Bowman is a voter, decided last week to hold rates steady, but pointed to likely additional increases before the end of 2023.

"I supported the FOMC's decision last week to hold the federal funds rate target range steady and to continue to reduce the Fed's securities holdings; however, I believe that additional policy rate increases will be necessary to bring inflation down to our target over time," Bowman said in remarks prepared for a speech in Cleveland.

Rates will need to move higher to push them into "a sufficiently restrictive stance" that will get inflation closer to the Fed's 2% goal, she added.

—Jeff Cox

Jobless claims were higher than expected last week

Initial jobless claims were unchanged last week, but still a bit higher than economists had expected.

First-time filings for unemployment benefits totaled 264,000 for the week ended June 17, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That was above the 256,000 estimate from Dow Jones.

Continuing claims edged lower to 1.759 million, below the 1.782 million FactSet estimate.

—Jeff Cox