This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Stocks in the Asia-Pacific dipped on Friday, as investors await the closely watched February non-farm payrolls report from the U.S. that could further determine the direction on the Federal Reserve's rate hikes ahead.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 3.09%, leading losses in the region. In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component shed 1.2% and the Shanghai Composite fell 1.4% as China's Xi Jinping formally secured an unprecedented third term as president.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 2.28% to close at 7,144.7 — continuing the selloff on Wall Street led by bank stocks on contagion worries related to Silicon Valley Bank. South Korea's Kospi lost 1.01% to 2,394.59 and the Kosdaq fell 2.55% to 788.60.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan shed 1.67% to 28,143.97 and the Topix lost 1.91% to 2,031.58 as Bank of Japan held its interest rates at -0.1%, widely in line with expectations in a Reuters poll.
| TICKER | COMPANY | NAME | PRICE | CHANGE | %CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .N225 | Nikkei 225 Index | NIKKEI | 32,217.43 | UNCH | UNCH |
| .HSI | Hang Seng Index | HSI | 19,108.50 | UNCH | UNCH |
| .AXJO | S&P/ASX 200 | ASX 200 | 7,216.30 | UNCH | UNCH |
| .SSEC | Shanghai | SHANGHAI | 3,232.44 | UNCH | UNCH |
| .KS11 | KOSPI Index | KOSPI | 2,615.41 | +14.05 | +0.54% |
| .FTFCNBCA | CNBC 100 ASIA IDX | CNBC 100 | 8,383.23 | +5.73 | +0.07% |
Japan's parliament approved Kazuo Ueda as the next Bank of Japan governor, Kyodo reported — current governor Haruhiko Kuroda chaired his last policy meeting before his term ends on April 8.
Overnight in the U.S., stocks tumbled Thursday, with the S&P 500 closing 1.8% lower and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 500 points as investors braced for a key payroll report Friday that could shape the direction of interest rates.
— CNBC's Evelyn Cheng, Samantha Subin, Hakyung Kim contributed to this report
Bitcoin dipped below the $20,000 mark in Asia morning trade for the first time since mid-January, reaching $19,840 before recovering back above the psychological threshold.
The cryptocurrency fell 7.36% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinMetrics and last stood at $20,115.53.
Ethereum also fell 6.92% in the past 24 hours and last traded at $1,431.81.
— Jihye Lee
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong saw sharp losses on Friday morning, led by consumer cyclicals that fell 3.77%, healthcare stocks shed nearly 3% and technology stocks dropped 1.56%.
JD.com fell 11.04% while Geely Automobile shed 5.49%. BYD lost 5.2% and Baidu shed 4.94%.
Property stocks such as Country Garden also saw huge losses down 2.73%.
Alibaba was among the leading bottom movers, falling 2.96%.
— Jihye Lee
Japan approved the appointment of Kazuo Ueda as the next governor of the Bank of Japan, Kyodo reported.
The approval by the House of Councillors sets the stage for the government to formally appoint Ueda, Kyodo reported.
The parliament also approved Shinichi Uchida and Ryozo Himino as the next Bank of Japan deputy governors, Kyodo said.
The yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds slightly fell to the upper ceiling of the central bank's tolerance range at 0.5%.
— Jihye Lee
UBS' equity strategist Gerry Fowler says that interest rate rises in Europe should push up stock prices in one sector by 20%.
Fowler also revealed that several stocks in the sector were trading below an overlooked metric since "no one has really acknowledged" this phenomenon, despite a "structurally higher" earnings potential.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about that sector here.
— Ganesh Rao
Bond yields are surging, as markets get jittery on reignited fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for longer. The 2-year Treasury topped 5% for the first time since 2007 earlier this week
As rates surge, it becomes harder to find stocks that can compete on a yield basis — but some do exist. CNBC Pro used FactSet to screen for global stocks on the MSCI World index with yields above 5%.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
Japan's household spending fell 0.3% in January on an annualized basis, government data showed.
That's further below expectations from economists polled by Reuters to see a drop of 0.1% for the month compared to a year ago. Household spending in December fell 1.3%.
— Jihye Lee
South Korea's current account balance returned to a deficit of $4.52 billion in January, Bank of Korea data showed.
This comes after the print saw a surplus of $2.68 billion in current account balance in December.
January's report marks the first time South Korea's current account balance fell into deficit territory since August 2022.
The Korean won stood at 1,323.92 against the U.S. dollar.
— Jihye Lee
Stock tumbled Thursday, accelerating losses into the final hour of trading.
The S&P 500 slid 1.85% to end at 3,918.32, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dove 543.54 points, or 1.66%, to settle at 32,254.86. The Nasdaq Composite shed 2.05% to finish at 11,338.35.
— Samantha Subin
Bank of America analyst Brad Lin raised his price objective on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing's U.S.-listed shares to $115 from $105. The new target implies upside of 26.6% from Wednesday's close.
"Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is a key beneficiary and among our 20 global AI stock picks owing to the rising and widening applications of large language models (LLMs) and generative AI, led by ChatGPT," Lin wrote.
"We think the generative AI should act as one of the greatest drivers, thanks to the substantial computational requirements for running and training the AI models."
— Sarah Min
Initial jobs claims hit 211,000 for the week ended March 4, the highest level of the year and since Dec. 24.
Continuing claims also hit a yearly high, coming in at 1.718M for the week of Feb. 25. That also marked the highest level dating back to Dec.17.
— Samantha Subin, Gina Francolla