South Korea stocks lead gains in Asia, China's CSI 300 hits new five-year low

Shares of Indian digital wallet services provider Paytm plummeted 20% for a second straight day, hitting their lowest level in 13 months.

Shares now stand at 487.2 rupees apiece, their lowest level since Dec. 23, 2022. The stock had collapsed 20% on Wednesday as well.

The sell-off in Paytm comes after India's financial authorities ordered it to stop accepting new deposits from March.

— Lim Hui Jie

India's Nifty 50 index climbed to a new intraday record high of 22,126.80, surpassing the previous intraday record of 22,124.15 set on Jan. 16.

Reuters reported that the index was driven mainly by gains in heavyweight Reliance Industries, which advanced as much as 3.3% on Friday.

The report also added information technology stocks helped the rise as well, and that the Indian government's fiscal prudence in its budget released Thursday also boosted investor sentiment.

— Lim Hui Jie, Reuters

Australia's producer price index rose 4.1% year on year in the fourth quarter of 2023, accelerating from the 3.8% seen in the third quarter.

The increase also marked an end to four straight quarters of declining growth in the PPI. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the country's PPI grew 0.9%, lower than the third quarter's growth rate of 1.8%.

Australia's statistics bureau said producer prices saw "moderate rises across most industries," adding that "sustained growth in construction outputs is driving the rise."

Furthermore, high crude oil and energy prices in recent quarters are have impacted prices in other industries, the bureau added.

— Lim Hui Jie

Aozora Bank shares tumbled to their lowest in about three years for a second day, as investors again hammered the Japanese commercial lender for its warning of an annual loss stemming from its exposure to U.S. office loans.

Aozora plunged by as much as 18.5% to 2,080 yen in early Tokyo trading, sending its shares to their lowest levels since February 2021. This compares to the 0.5% gain on the Nikkei 225 benchmark.

The Tokyo-based commercial lender said Thursday it expects to post a net loss of 28 billion Japanese yen ($191 million) for the fiscal year ending March 31, a swing from its previous forecast for a net profit of 24 billion yen.

Please read the full story for more.

— Clement Tan

Energy stocks have had a mixed start to the year as ongoing geopolitical uncertainties and fluctuating oil prices continue to affect the sector.

One chief investment officer, however, sees potential in oil, naming one immediate and one longer-term investment opportunity.

"I think there is a big opportunity in geopolitics," Jevons Global's Kingsley Jones told CNBC's Pro Talks on Jan. 25, naming two stocks he likes.

— Amala Balakrishner

South Korea's consumer price index rose 2.8% year on year, marking a third straight month of declines.

This was compared to the 3.2% recorded the previous month, and slightly lower than the 2.9% expected by a Reuters poll.

January's core inflation — which strips out prices of food and energy — rose 2.5%, at a slower rate than 2.8% in the previous month.

— Lim Hui Jie

Family offices have boomed in the last few years, thanks in part to the growing number of wealthy individuals.

There's been a surge in "extreme" wealth in the last three years alone.

UBS told CNBC Pro that "family offices are planning the biggest modifications in strategic asset allocation for several years," adding that this comes "at a time when inflection points spanning policy rates, inflation and economic growth appear likely."

CNBC Pro scoured recent surveys and spoke to family office operators to find out how they're allocating right now and in the next few years — in the face of major global shifts.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Comments from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell following the central bank's interest rate decision on Wednesday pushed a teetering market over the edge, according to Lori Calvasina, head of U.S. equity strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

"There was just so much on this market that it felt like Powell was the last straw," she said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street," citing a deterioration in the geopolitical landscape, a return of hard landing concerns and recent employment data.

Calvasina's advised market participants to expect a pullback in the market, noting she's been surprised one hasn't come yet.

She also said "disappointing" earnings from big technology companies were unexpected, but it makes sense because the bar was set so high after recent market outperformance.

— Alex Harring

Economic reports Thursday brought good news for productivity and inflation, though initial jobless claims ticked higher than anticipated.

Productivity, a measure of worker output, increased 3.2% in the fourth quarter, better than the 2.5% estimate from Dow Jones, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. At the same time, unit labor costs, or the difference between hourly pay and productivity, rose just 0.5%, below the 1.1% estimate.

However, a separate Labor Department report showed that first-time filings for unemployment benefits totaled 224,000, up 9,000 from the previous week and ahead of the 214,000 estimate. Continuing claims, which run a week behind, totaled just shy of 1.9 million, up 70,000 and higher than the 1.84 million estimate from FactSet.

—Jeff Cox

Shares of Ferrari rallied nearly 10% after the luxury car maker reported quarterly results that beat analyst expectations.

The company earned €1.62 per share, excluding certain items, on revenue of €1.52 billion. Analysts polled by StreetAccount expected a profit of €1.48 per share on revenue of €1.51 billion.

"2023 was a very successful year, during which we strengthened our brand through a number of achievements reflected in our unprecedented financial results," CEO Benedetto Vigna said in a statement. "We now have a very important year ahead of us in the execution of our business plan, which continues on schedule along its carefully planned path."

Ferrari was also in the news Thursday after multiple reports said Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton is poised to join the Scuderia in 2025. Hamilton is one of the most successful drivers in the sports history, with seven world titles — a record he shares with Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher — and 103 race wins, the most ever.

— Fred Imbert

The U.S. manufacturing sector remained in contraction during January, while prices posted an unexpected jump.

The ISM Manufacturing Index came in at 49.1, an increase of 2 points from December and better than the Dow Jones estimate for 47.2. However, because the gauge is a diffusion index measuring the share of business reporting expansion, any reading below 50 represents contraction. The sector has been in contraction for 15 straight months.

On the inflation front, the prices index jumped 7 points to 52.9, indicating price pressures at a time when other readings have shown an easing.

In a separate data point, the Commerce Department reported that construction spending rose 0.9% in December, well ahead of the consensus forecast for a 0.5% gain.

—Jeff Cox