Japan's Nikkei 225 Index extends its rally to new highs

China's Ministry of Commerce said on Monday that the United States made “false accusations” against China in a report that denied its contribution to the World Trade Organization. Local media reported.

The ministry added that China has always strongly supported the multilateral trading system and fulfilled its obligations in the World Trade Organization.

-Li Ying Shan

South Korea's financial regulator announced steps to improve corporate governance on Monday, taking inspiration from Japan's playbook, to boost undervalued stock markets and tackle the “Korean discount.”

Korea Financial Services Commission It provided details about the “Corporate Value Enhancement Programme” which aims to prioritize shareholder returns through various incentives including tax benefits.

Korean authorities acknowledged the similarities in their program with Japan's, which saw Tokyo markets reach record levels for the first time in 34 years.

The Financial Services Commission said it will also introduce a “Korea Top Value Index” to institutional investors, including pension funds.

– Shreyashi Sanyal

Veteran investor David Roche prefers to invest in India, Indonesia and Japan rather than China.

“It's definitely where I would make more money than I would in China right now,” the head of independent strategy told CNBC's “Squawk Box Asia” when asked about the future prospects for India and Indonesia. “By the way, I still have more money in places like Japan than I would have in China,” he added.

Roche noted that there are a lot of companies in China that are “fundamentally cheap,” but major problems such as deflation are still plaguing the economy. However, Roche said Chinese markets may be in recovery mode.

“When markets go down as much as they did in China, they are going to bounce back,” he said.

-Li Ying Shan

China remains an important trading partner for many countries around the world, and the commonly used narrative about the superpower being separated from the global economy is exaggerated, according to the Asian Development Bank.

“China is still probably the number one trading partner for the majority of countries in the world,” Albert Park, chief economist at the Asian Development Bank, told CNBC. “The story of China's decoupling from the global economy — I think that's probably generally too exaggerated or too partial.”

The economic powerhouse remains a major trading partner of more than 120 countries, and remains the largest trading partner of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam. According to the American research center Wilson Center.

China also continues to play a large role in the global economy As the largest trading economy in the world Even as trade tensions between China and the United States have worsened since 2018.

-Li Ying Shan

Japan's services producer price index recorded a smaller year-on-year increase in January, according to the Bank of Japan Official data.

The producer price index for services rose 2.1% in January compared to the previous year. The reading was lower than the 2.4% increase recorded in December.

However, Japan's producer price index for services fell by 0.5% in January compared to December.

Markets in Japan opened higher on Monday, with the Nikkei 225 hitting a new record high and was last trading up 0.48%. The broader Topix index rose 0.64%.

– Shreyashi Sanyal

Investors seeking to protect their portfolios from the risk of a resurgence of inflation in 2024 can pick up 3 “long-term defensive” stocks with good “inflation-linked” earnings, according to Freddie Lait, chief investment officer at Latitude Investment Management.

Light, who was an analyst at Goldman Sachs, believes these stocks could grow 10-15% a year while acting as a hedge against inflation.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

-Ganesh Rao

The hype around Nvidia shows no sign of abating, as the chip giant posted another multi-billion-dollar revenue quarter.

The company, which is already up more than 200% in 2023, rose 13% on the back of its earnings report. This year alone, it's up nearly 58%, with Nvidia last closing at $785 on Thursday.

But how far can Nvidia go? Here's what analysts are saying. CNBC Pro also dug into reports this week to list the latest price targets given to Nvidia by major Wall Street banks.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

-Weezin Tan

Here's how the major indexes closed on Friday:

– Piya Singh

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon sold about 800,000 shares of the bank's stock on Thursday, making about $150 million, according to data from JPMorgan Chase. Deposit of securities And statements of fact.

The move appears to be part of a 10b5 plan by corporate executives to sell their shares.

Dimon still owns about 7.7 million shares of JPMorgan, according to VerityData.

-Jesse Pound

Shares of big technology companies adjacent to artificial intelligence have pushed the stock market to new highs, but there is still more room for gains.

In fact, Greg Marcus of UBS Private Wealth Management believes investors should take advantage of market volatility to buy into big tech companies.

“There are likely to be pullbacks and volatility over the next few months, and we support a buy-the-dip mentality when it comes to big tech,” he said.

Besides being a beneficiary of the AI ​​theme, Marcus also noted that many large technology companies have strong balance sheets and earnings growth potential, characteristics that can weather a high interest rate environment.

However, the wealth manager also stressed that the market's rally is likely to expand in 2024.

“While we expect continued resilience in technology stocks, we also expect a less dramatic, if still heavy, focus on the Magnificent 7,” he said.

-Lisa Kailai Han