The Tokyo Tower, left, and commercial and residential buildings at night in Minato district of Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg via Getty Images
This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Asia-Pacific markets rose on Friday after more inflation data out from the U.S. came in softer than expected, raising optimism that inflation could come down without weakening the labor market.
The U.S. producer price index rose in June less than anticipated, climbing 0.1% year on year, while core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, climbed 0.1% — also lower than expectations.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.78% and closed at 7,303.1 to cap off a whole week of gains, after the government appointed its central bank deputy governor Michele Bullock as the next governor for the Reserve Bank of Australia, to succeed incumbent Philip Lowe.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell marginally to end at 32,391, while the Topix was also closed 0.7% down to end at 2,239.1 as investors digested its industrial production release for May. On a weekly basis, the Nikkei was mostly flat, while the Topix was down 0.63%.
South Korea's Kospi rose 1.43% to close at 2,628.30, leading gains in the region and the Kosdaq inched 0.36% higher to finish at 896.28. The Kospi is close to its 2023 high of 2,641.16.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.21% in its final hour of trade, continuing the rally seen on Thursday.
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In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite rose marginally to 3,237.7 while the Shenzhen Component lost 0.14% to end at 11,080.32.
Singapore's economy grew 0.7% in the second quarter of the year, avoiding a technical recession. The Straits Times index rose 0.26% after the release.
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Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes recorded a fourth straight day of gains, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite closing at their highest levels in over a year.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.85%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.14%. The Nasdaq Composite gained the most, gaining 1.58%.
— CNBC's Hakyung Kim and Samantha Subin contributed to this report
Indian tech giant Wipro's $1 billion AI investment is a big step forward, says CFO
Jatin Dalal, CFO of Wipro, said the Indian software services firm's latest move to invest $1 billion in A.I., is aimed at serving its customers more efficiently.
"With every new technological advancement, we have been able to serve our customers better, faster, and in a more more efficient way," Dalal told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Friday.
The billion dollar investment will span across the next three years, and Dalal noted the money being spent on A.I. "can only go up and not come down."
He also downplayed the changes A.I. will bring to its employees as the company intends to continue investing in upskilling efforts.
"'I'm not unduly worried about the existing employees because we will continue to grow and employees will be able to participate in this new era of A.I.," Dalal said.
Wipro announced on Thursday that its net profit increased by almost 12% in the quarter that ended in June, but profits decreased by 6.7% on a sequential basis.
— Charmaine Jacob
Global fintech funding plunged almost 50% in first half of 2023: S&P
Funding in fintech startups dropped 49% globally to $23 billion in the first half of 2023 as compared to a year ago, S&P Global Market Intelligence data showed.
Deal counts in the first six months of 2023 totaled 1,178 — a 64% plunge from the same period last year.
Meanwhile, mega funding rounds of more than $100 million have been scarce, with only nine in second quarter 2023, when it was 23 in first quarter 2023 and 55 in second quarter 2022, said S&P.
The failure of Silicon Valley Bank in March "dampened investor risk appetite," said S&P.
"A trio of big-ticket deals — Stripe's $6.87 billion, an Ant Group unit's $1.5 billion and PhonePe's $850 million— masked the deterioration in the fintech funding environment in the first half of 2023," said Sampath Sharma Nariyanuri, fintech research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
However, Nariyanuri expects "a recovery in public market valuations of tech stocks, a stabilization in interest rates and a pickup in M&A activity" to boost the second half of 2023.
— Sheila Chiang
International Monetary Fund says China's growth is slowing
The International Monetary Fund said that growth in China is slowing due to weaker private investment as well as slowing exports and reduced domestic demand.
The organization's spokesperson Julie Kozak said in a briefing, "Growth momentum has been slowing recently in China, largely due to weaker than expected private investment" pointing to a recent decline in exports after seeing strong performance in the first quarter of the year.
"The overall picture for growth in China is one of a slowing economy, and that is consistent with the forecast that we that we had in in April," noting an "updated forecast" for China will be reflected in IMF's next World Economic Outlook.
— Jihye Lee
Barclays downgrades Singapore's growth forecasts
Barclays downgraded Singapore's full-year gross domestic product growth forecast from 1.5% to 1.0% after the latest government release showed the economy narrowly averted a technical recession.
"With H1 GDP growth coming in at 0.6% year-on-year, we reduce our full-year 2023 forecast further to 1.0% from 1.5% – which is in the lower half of the Ministry of Trade and Industry's official forecast range of 0.5-2.5%," economist Brian Tan said in a Friday note.
"While the slump in manufacturing and regional trade activity – which could show greater signs of stabilisation in Q3 – will likely be a drag this year, we believe the recovery in services activity will continue to provide a crucial offset," he said.
Tan noted that the service sector in Singapore's economy was the "source of the upside surprise" of the latest growth readings and offsetting the continued decline seen in the manufacturing sector.
— Jihye Lee
Australia appoints Michele Bullock as new central bank governor
Reserve Bank of Australia's deputy governor Michele Bullock has been appointed as the new central bank chief, the country's Treasury said Friday.
She succeeds incumbent Philip Lowe, whose term will end on September 17 — that brings a close to his 43 years at the bank. Treasurer Jim Chalmers described Bullock's appointment as "the optimal balance between providing exceptional experience & expertise and offering a fresh leadership perspective."
Bullock's appointment would mean that the RBA will have a vacant deputy governor's post, which the government said that it will fill in the coming months.
— Lim Hui Jie
Singapore avoids technical recession, grows 0.7% year-on-year
Singapore's economy avoided a technical recession in the second quarter, growing 0.7% year-on-year and 0.3% quarter-on-quarter, advanced estimates showed.
Economists polled by Reuters expected to see growth of 0.3% quarter-on-quarter and 0.6% year-on-year.
In the first quarter, Singapore's economy contracted by 0.4% quarter-on-quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis and saw marginal growth of 0.4% year-on-year.
— Jihye Lee
Fed's Waller says two more rate hikes needed to bring inflation down
Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller voiced the need for two more rate hikes for inflation to be brought down to its target.
"I see two more 25-basis-point hikes in the target range over the four remaining meetings this year as necessary to keep inflation moving toward our target," he said, speaking at at event at New York University on Thursday.
He called the latest consumer price index reading that showed a cooling inflation rate as "welcome" news, while adding, "one data point does not make a trend."
"I am going to need to see this improvement sustained before I am confident that inflation has decelerated," he said.
— Jihye Lee
CNBC Pro: This high-yield bond fund with 'conservative' assets offers 10% in dividends
The fund manager behind a fixed-income fund offering 10% in dividends has predicted a "deterioration in credit" for the wider economy in the near future.
However, the portfolio manager expects the fund to be well-position for such a scenario while generating market-beating income.
It is among only a handful of funds available to retail investors across Europe that currently offers double-digit yields.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Ganesh Rao
CNBC Pro: ‘Undeniably vast’ opportunity: Bank of America names generative A.I. global ‘winners’
Bank of America has described the AI opportunity within the software industry as "undeniably vast" and ranked European companies in the sector.
"We see gen AI as an opportunity for the Software industry to derive both potential revenue uplift via enhanced value proposition and data monetization, alongside productivity improvements," the bank said.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Lucy Handley
Producer price index rises less than expected
The producer price index, a measure of what wholesalers pay for goods, rose 0.1% in June. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected an increase of 0.2%. Core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, climbed 0.1% — also less than expected.
— Fred Imbert
S&P 500 up more than 3% since rate hikes started
In another bullish sign for the market, the S&P 500 is now up 3.3% since the Fed started raising rates in March 2022. The move comes as traders cheer the prospects of the central bank taming inflation without tipping the economy into a recession.
"For first time in 2023 we are currently being asked by multiple clients if we think the S&P 500 is now on track to clock an ATH before year end. I am going with a yes on this," Goldman Sachs' John Flood wrote in a note Wednesday.
— Fred Imbert
St. Louis Fed's Bullard steps down
The St. Louis Federal Reserve announced Thursday that Jim Bullard will step down from his post as president, effective Aug. 14.
The bank said he's leaving to take the position of dean at Purdue University's Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, effective Aug. 15. It also added that Bullard has "recused himself from his monetary policy role on the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee and other related duties and has ceased all public speaking."
"It has been both a privilege and an honor to be part of the St. Louis Fed for the last 33 years, including serving as its president for the last 15 years," Bullard said in a statement. "I am also grateful to have worked alongside such dedicated and inspiring colleagues across the Federal Reserve System."
Bullard is not a voting member on the policymaking committee this year.
— Fred Imbert
Thursday's U.S. stock market rally is broad and deep
Almost 2.4 stocks are rising Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange for every 1 decline, and advancing volume approaches 71% versus less than 29% declining volume, according to FactSet data. New NYSE highs total 167 versus only 11 new lows.
Over on the Nasdaq Stock Market, almost 2 stocks are rising for every 1 that's falling, and up volume is a shade less than 73%, far outstripping down volume that's equal to less than 27%. Nasdaq new highs amount to 256 against just 52 new lows.
— Scott Schnipper
