Asia markets trade higher as Bank of Japan leaves rates unchanged, in line with expectations

Reva Goujon, director of Rhodium Group, discusses what might be on the agenda ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Beijing and says "expectations are low."

China has seen a strong trend of people changing to electric vehicles, with EV retail sales growing 46% year-over-year, said Craig Yan Zeng, chief financial officer of Chinese car portal Autohome.

The country's auto market performed strongly with a year-over-year growth of 4.2%, Yan told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia," adding that China's "number one export good" is now the automobile.

The younger generation cares about environmental concerns and likes new EV technology such as auto drive, the CFO explained. "EV becomes ... young people's first choice when they select their car."

China is also able to support its car manufacturers with full EV supply chains, he added.

— Audrey Wan

Japan's central bank maintained its ultra loose monetary policy on Friday, electing to support fragile economic growth at a time of swirling global uncertainty.

The Bank of Japan held its short-term interest rate target at -0.1% and made no changes to its yield curve control policy, in line with economists' expectations.

The Japanese yen declined after the decision, falling by as much as 0.3% to around 140.70 per U.S. dollar before paring losses. The Nikkei 225 similarly reversed earlier losses to creep higher.

— Clement Tan

Carl Vine of Japan's M&G Investments says consumers are more willing to accept price hikes and companies are much more proactive in thinking about price-setting mechanisms.

More countries are reducing their reliance on China, and India could be the next best bet for nations looking to move their manufacturing operations, said Matthew Culley, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors.

"The long-term outlook for India is clearly positive and it's the only country that is blessed with the demographics to rival China on the global stage," Culley told CNBC's Squawk Box Asia on Friday.

India is hence a "fantastic place" for countries looking to move away from China due to its strong economic background and cheap labor, he added.

Culley highlighted that the South Asia nation is now beginning to see "green shoots of private sector capex," and banks will play a pivotal role as well.

"There is a ton of infrastructure that has to get done, because it's not just about building a manufacturing facility ... you really need the whole supply chain to be replicated in order for it to be successful."

— Charmaine Jacob

New Zealand's factory activity remained in contraction territory for a third-straight month, with the country's purchasing managers index at 48.9 in May.

That's slightly above April's reading of 48.8, but the ninth month in a row that New Zealand's PMI printed beneath its long-term norm of 53.

The reading comes a day after the country entered a technical recession, having seen its first-quarter GDP contract by 0.1% year on year.

A PMI reading of above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Government data revealed that the textiles and clothing sector saw the largest contraction with a PMI of 41, followed by the metal products sector at 42.5.

— Lim Hui Jie

Hong Kong's producer price index climbed 1% in the first quarter compared with a year ago, a sharp reversal from the 0.4% drop recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The city's census bureau elaborated that the highest increases in producer prices were recorded mainly in paper products, which saw a 3.7% rise year on year.

Other sectors which saw increases include the food, beverages and tobacco industry, as well as the metal and electronics industry.

Over the same period, the textiles and wearing apparel industry saw a marginal fall in producer prices, decreasing 0.1% year on year.

— Lim Hui Jie

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports slid 14.7% year-on-year in May, a larger fall than the 9.8% decrease in April and more than the 8.1% drop expected by economists polled by Reuters.

The May figures also mean that Singapore's non-oil domestic exports have declined for eight straight months. On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, non-oil domestic exports tumbled by 14.6%, sharply higher than the 1.3% fall forecast.

Government data revealed that both exports of electronics and non-electronics declined, with exports to Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan leading the drop. In contrast, exports to the U.S. and China rose.

Singapore's total trade declined by 17.9% year-on-year in May, following the 18.9% contraction in the preceding month.

Total exports declined by 15.2%, slightly smaller than April's 18.1% decrease. Meanwhile, total imports contracted by 20.7%, extending the previous month's 19.7% decline.

— Lim Hui Jie

Swiss investment bank UBS expects shares of a large global airline to rise by 50% in the next year

The airline's stock is already up 50% this year as it plans to grow by nearly three-fold by 2030.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

The S&P 500 has further upside going into next year, predicts Tom Lee of Fundstrat, as he gives his S&P 500 target for 2024.

"Our view is that you want to be risk on this year," he added, naming stocks to buy.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

The Dow and S&P 500 are running circles around historical averages for June about halfway into the month, according to data from the Stock Trader's Almanac.

In a typical June, the Dow has shed 0.2% on average. But so far this month, the 30-stock average is up 4.4%. That also puts it ahead of the overall average, with a typical month bringing a relatively modest 0.7% advance.

Similarly, the S&P 500 has rallied 5.5% this month, blowing past the historical June average of just 0.1% gained. When averaging the historical performance of all months for the S&P 500, the index typical adds 0.7%.

That performance means both have defied conventional wisdom, with June historically considered a weak month. On average, it has brought the second worst historical performance for the Dow and fourth worse for the S&P 500.

— Alex Harring

Regional bank stocks were higher broadly on Thursday, with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) climbing 1%. The fund has gained 19% over the past month.

Shares of PacWest, Citizens Financial and Valley National helped lead the KRE higher with gains of 1.5%, 1.8% and 3%, respectively.

— Brian Evans

The U.S. dollar reached a high not seen since November when compared with the yen.

The greenback reached 141.50 against the yen. That's the highest level since Nov. 23, 2022, when it hit 141.61.

Meanwhile, the dollar index was negative as the euro reached a high against the dollar not seen in nearly a month. The euro hit 108.78 against the dollar, which was the highest since May 16 when it notched 1.0904.

— Alex Harring, Gina Francolla

Thursday morning saw a wide variety of economic data released. Here are the results against estimates from the Dow Jones consensus:

• Weekly jobless claims: 262,000 vs. 245,000 Dow Jones estimate. Continuing claims 1.757 million vs. 1.79 million (FactSet).
• Retail sales May: 0.3% vs. -0.2% estimate; ex-auto 0.1% vs. flat estimate.
• Import prices May: -0.6% vs. -0.5% estimate.
• Empire State Manufacturing June: 6.6 vs. -16 estimate.
• Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing June: -13.7 vs. -14.8 estimate.

—Jeff Cox