Asia markets track Wall Street declines; electric vehicle shares drop on demand worries

Shares of Singapore's Singtel plunged as much as 3.93% after reports early Wednesday said that a 20% stake sale, worth AU$3 billion, in the telecom company's Australian subsidiary Optus to PE firm Brookfield has fallen through.

According to The Australian, talks between Brookfield and Singtel have ended for now, "with the two groups unable to agree on terms, including the price, and Brookfield has walked away from a possible transaction."

On March 13, the Australian Financial Review said Singtel was in advanced talks to offload Optus to Brookfield for AU$16 billion.

Singtel requested a trading halt on the Singapore exchange on Wednesday and released a statement asking shareholders to "exercise caution in their review of any media reports relating to Optus."

The telco also reiterated that there is no impending deal to divest Optus, and called it a "strategic and integral part of the Singtel Group."

— Lim Hui Jie

Shares of Japanese trading house Itochu Corp surged over 7% after the company announced its management plan for its fiscal year ending March 2025.

The Warren Buffett-backed company announced that it will aim for a consolidated net profit of 880 billion yen ($5.8 billion) and a return on equity of 16%. Itochu is currently forecasting a net profit of 800 billion yen in fiscal 2024.

Furthermore, the company also is aiming for a total payout ratio of 50％, as well as a minimum dividend of 200 yen per share, compared to the 160 yen per share for fiscal 2024.

The company also added it will launch a share buyback of about 150 billion yen in fiscal 2025.

— Lim Hui Jie

China's service sector activity expanded at its fastest pace since December, according to surveys from Caixin.

The services purchasing managers index in China rose to 52.7 in March, up from 52.5 in February. This also marked the 15th straight month of expansion for the sector.

Caixin noted in its report that this was due to new business in the sector rising, with anecdotal evidence revealing that "improvements in underlying demand conditions and business development efforts helped to boost the rise in new work," the report said.

— Lim Hui Jie

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co evacuated production lines after a major earthquake hit Taiwan early Wednesday.

A company spokesperson said safety systems were operating normally.

"To ensure the safety of personnel, some fabs were evacuated according to company procedure," the person said.

Shares of TSMC fell 1.5% in early trading, while the broader Taiwan Weighted Index dropped 0.9%.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Shares of Fast Retailing plunged to a two-week low, falling over 4%, after the firm disclosed that same-store sales in its Uniqlo stores in Japan fell in March. The firm is the largest component of the Nikkei 225 index.

The company saw five store openings in March domestically, but eight store closures.

Same-store sales, including online sales, decreased by 1.5% year on year, while total sales in March increased by 1%.

Fast Retailing explained the sales contraction was due to sales of spring items struggling to gain momentum, due to "persistently cold weather throughout the month [in Japan]."

— Lim Hui Jie

Country Garden's sales for March came in at 4.30 billion yuan ($594.43 million), the Chinese property developer reported late Tuesday.

Sales fell nearly 83% year-over-year in March but were slightly higher than the 3.72 billion yuan in sales reported in February.

The debt-laden real estate developer said it would delay its annual financial report last week and trading in its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was suspended on Tuesday.

The company's Hong Kong-listed shares have fallen nearly 38% so far this year.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

From the GameStop frenzy of 2021 to the recent surge in Reddit and Truth Social shares, many investors likely have a fear of missing out (FOMO) on these seemingly lucrative opportunities.

However, for investors that cannot stomach the risks linked to meme stocks, there are less volatile ways to capitalize on the trading phenomenon, investor says., according to Hannah Gooch-Peters, Global Equity Investment Analyst at Sanlam Investments.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about those stocks here.

— Ganesh Rao

Several investors have been looking favorably at Japanese stocks in the past few months - and market strategist Matt Orton is no exception.

"Japan overall, has been a fantastic market ... Japan was the top performer within the Asian equity market complex," the chief market strategist at asset management firm Raymond James Investment Management, told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on April 1.

One lesser known name stands out to him as a good play right now.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly said Tuesday that she still expects three interest rate cuts this year, though it is not a certainty.

"I think that is a very reasonable baseline but I would like to say here that this is projection, right?" Daly said during a panel discussion in Las Vegas. "Three rate cuts is a projection, and a projection is not a promise."

Daly, a voter this year on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, also noted that she was not swayed either way by a report Monday showing the manufacturing sector in March expanded for the first time in 16 months. Instead, she said she and her fellow policymakers are looking at a broad range of indicators.

"There is a path in my mind where interest rates start to adjust this year. We're just not there yet," she said.

— Jeff Cox

Energy stocks globally are reaching new highs amid rising oil prices. On Tuesday, the iShares Global Energy ETF (IXC) rose 0.9% to hit its highest level since September 2014.

Among the companies in the exchange-traded fund that reached new 52-week highs on Tuesday include PetroChina, Canadian Natural Resources, ConocoPhillips and Marathon Petroleum.

— Hakyung Kim