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Asia markets mixed ahead of Japan's BOJ decision and South Korea inflation this week

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

Tokyo at night.
Toru Hanai | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Asia-Pacific markets started the week mixed ahead of key economic data from around the region.

Monetary policy decisions from Japan and Malaysia, inflation data from South Korea, and gross domestic growth figures from Taiwan and Hong Kong are the regional highlights of the week.

Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 0.95% to end the day at 30,696.96, as the Bank of Japan starts its two-day monetary policy meeting, while the Topix lost 1.04% to close at 2,231.24

In contrast, South Korea's Kospi was up 0.34%, ending at 2,310.55 and the small-cap Kosdaq closed up 1.15% at 757.12.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.79% to 6,772.90, as the country saw a faster than expected rise in its September retail sales.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped 0.08% in it final hour, while the mainland Chinese CSI 300 index ended the day up 0.6% at 3,583.77.


On Friday in the U.S., all three major indexes ended the day mixed, with the S&P 500 entering correction territory as renewed selling occurred on Wall Street on fears of a recession.

The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.12%, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.48%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite held 0.38% higher to 12,643.01, thanks to Amazon beating analysts' expectations for revenue and earnings in the third quarter.

— CNBC's Brian Evans and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report

WTO chief warns global growth will be impacted if Israel-Hamas conflict spreads

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), during a panel session at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Marrakesh, Morocco, on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023.
Hollie Adams | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Global growth will be impacted if the ongoing Israel-Hamas war spills into the broader Middle East region, the World Trade Organization's director-general has warned.

"If it spreads beyond where it is now, to the rest of the Middle East, there will be an impact," Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told CNBC's Martin Soong.

That's because the Middle East is "the source" of a lot of the world's natural gas and oil, the WTO chief said.

Escalating conflict could further weigh on trade growth which is already "quite grim," she added.

Read more of the story here.

– Sheila Chiang

U.S. set to announce IPEF initiatives at the APEC meeting, Katherine Tai says

New initiatives from the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) will be announced in November, as the U.S. seeks closer ties with its trading partners in the Indo-Pacific region, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told CNBC.

Cooperation to with U.S. partners to promote sustainability, resilience and inclusivity, is crucial "in a time of many economic challenges," Tai said on the sidelines of the G7 trade ministers' meeting in Osaka, Japan.

"We also know that we can't wait around for five or seven years for a massive trade negotiation to be completed," she added.

The initiative was launched in May last year by U.S. President Joe Biden and is the U.S.'s main economic strategy in Asia.

For more of the story, read here.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Japan 10-year bond yield edges closer to 11-year high as BOJ meeting kicks off

Japan 10-year government bond yields crept closer to a 11-year high on Monday as the Bank of Japan kicks off its two-day monetary policy meeting.

Yields for the 10-year JGB climbed 2.29% on Monday to 0.893%, its highest level since it briefly reached 0.895% on Oct. 26. Before that, the last time the yield was at this level was in April 2012.

In July, the BOJ effectively broadened the yields permissible on the 10-year JGB by 50 basis points to 1% either side. 

Read CNBC's preview of the Bank of Japan's policy meeting here.

— Lim Hui Jie

Australia retail sales post surprise jump in September

Australia recorded a 0.9% month-on-month increase in seasonally adjusted retail sales in September.

This accelerated from August's 0.2% increase and exceeded expectations, with economists polled by Reuters forecasting a 0.3% rise.

The country's statistics bureau said that on a year-on-year seasonally adjusted basis, retail sales slipped 2%.

Australia's retail sales is one of the metrics the Reserve Bank of Australia monitors when it considers monetary policy, using it as a gauge of household spending.

— Lim Hui Jie

CNBC Pro: There's a 'game of thrones' in AI — but these Chinese tech giants offer 'a lot of value,' says tech veteran

China's tech giants may be reeling from the regulatory clampdowns, but they still have "a lot of value," according to veteran analyst Dan Ives.

The managing director and senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities is looking at a few stocks favorably. Several analysts share the same view, giving one of the names an upside of 68%.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

Dow closes lower, S&P 500 enters correction territory

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped more than 350 points on Friday, capping off a sour week that also saw the S&P 500 enter correction territory.

The 30-stock Dow slumped 366.71 points, or 1.1%, to close at 32,417.59. The S&P 500 fell 0.48% to finish the session at 4,117.37 while the Nasdaq Composite clung on to a 0.38% gain to 12,643.01.

— Brian Evans

Fed's preferred inflation gauge comes in line with expectations

The core personal consumption expenditures price index, an inflation gauge closely followed by the Federal Reserve, rose 0.3% in September. That matches a Dow Jones forecast. Year over year, core PCE increased 3.7%, also in line with expectations.

— Fred Imbert

CNBC Pro: Missed Nvidia? Fund manager says this under-the-radar networking stock is set for an AI boost

Tech companies — especially those leveraging artificial intelligence — have gained traction this year, with investors piling into the likes of Nvidia, Baidu and Alibaba.

One lesser-known tech player stands out to Sanjay Ayer, portfolio manager at the U.S.-headquartered WCM Investments, however.

The networking company considers industry veterans Cisco and Juniper as competitors and over 40% of its revenue currently comes from Microsoft and Meta.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

Inflation expectations surge in October, survey shows

Inflation expectations swing sharply in the final revision of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey for October released Friday.

Respondents now see a 4.2% rate one year from now, up a full percentage point from the outlook in September. The survey also was up 0.4 percentage point from the previous release two weeks ago.

The broader index, though, was slightly more positive at 63.8, a gain of 0.8 percentage point from the last reading though below the 67.9 level in September.

—Jeff Cox

Bitcoin heading for best week since June, but could be tested at FOMC meeting

Bitcoin is on pace to post its best week since June, after a big rally earlier this week pushed it out of the narrow range it had been stuck in for much of this year.

The coin is on pace to end the week higher by 14% at the $33,000 level, according to Coin Metrics. At about $1,770, ether is heading for a 10% weekly gain. Coin Metrics measures a week in crypto, which trades 24 hours a day, from the 4:00 p.m. ET stock market close one Friday to the next.

Investors are watching closely to see if bitcoin can find a new floor at current levels. Next week it will get its first testing ground with the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting, which will begin Tuesday. Callie Cox, an analyst at investment company eToro, noted that bitcoin tends to do better than stocks on Fed days, having outperformed the S&P 500 on 10 out of the last 13.

"Next week could be a real test for crypto," she said. "Industry news is exciting, but I worry that investors are forgetting that we're in an aggressively high rate environment. The Fed will probably reaffirm higher rates in its comments next week too. That could be a tough pill to swallow."

"I wouldn't be shocked if Powell entertains the idea of rate cuts," she added. "Inflation has made a lot of progress, and lately, his language has been more balanced than usual. Powell could be tough, but any semblance of flexibility could entice people back into risky investments like crypto."

— Tanaya Macheel