Bank of Korea, China inflation, Wall Street tech stocks, bitcoin

China’s inflation for March came in lower than expected at 0.7% against expectations of a 1% increase in the consumer price index compared to a year ago.

The producer price index also fell 2.5% year-on-year, in line with Reuters forecasts and after seeing a 1.4% decline last month.

– Jihye Lee

The Bank of Korea kept interest rates steady at 3.5%, in line with expectations.

The Korean won strengthened slightly immediately after the move to 1,319.68 against the US dollar.

South Korea joins Australia and India in pausing the tightening cycle amid a global inflationary environment as the US Federal Reserve maintains its hawkish stance.

Oil prices rose in Asian morning trade as traders continue to digest OPEC’s output cuts last week along with a potential further rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

Investors await key US inflation data on Wednesday, which will inform the Fed’s next move.

Brent crude futures rose 0.21% to $84.36 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate futures rose 0.26% to $79.95 a barrel.

Russia also remains a “key country to watch” in understanding the extent of supply disruptions in the oil market, Vivek Dhar of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia wrote in a daily note.

– Lee Ying Shan

Shares in Australian miner Newcrest Mining rose after it said it received a sweet offer from its US rival Newmont.

Newcrest rose more than 6% after the company published its latest offer from Newmont.

The revised takeover offer reflects a 16% increase over the original offer and will include an implied equity value of A$29.4 billion ($19.5 billion) and enterprise value of A$32.0 billion ($21.3 billion) for Newcrest.

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda emphasized in his first briefing his intention to “maintain unconventional monetary policy,” the Nikkei reported.

He said it is “appropriate” to maintain the central bank’s current yield curve management policy and its negative interest rate policy, citing current economic, financial and price conditions, the Nikkei said.

He added that if the Bank of Japan can reach its 2% inflation target, the central bank may need to normalize its policy, adding that it was difficult to set a timeline for when the Japanese economy would reach the target.

Japan’s core consumer price index was at 3.1% year-on-year in March, on a downward trajectory from the previous month’s acceleration of 4.2%.

The Japanese yen was up 0.2% at 133.29 against the US dollar in early Tuesday trading.

– Jihye Lee

The Bank of Korea is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate steady at 3.5% again in its monetary policy decision on Tuesday, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

DBS was at the extreme end of the survey and expects BOK to raise interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.75%.

At its last meeting in February, South Korea’s central bank halted its tightening cycle after seven consecutive rate hikes since March 2022.

The Reuters poll also expects the central bank to start cutting interest rates by as much as 50 basis points in the first quarter of 2024 and even further in the third and fourth quarters of next year.

– Jihye Lee

Shares of electric car giant Tesla have risen more than 70% this year, after falling 65% in 2022 in their biggest annual decline ever.

So is it time to buy the stock? Two investors met each other on CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” Wednesday.

Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Zavier Ong

Goldman Sachs reassessed some of its stock ratings in light of recent volatility, sticking with some — and upgrading others.

Some of these stocks are on the conviction buy list of the Wall Street bank, which has raised some of their price targets, giving them significant upside.

Here are five of the stocks, three of which are on Goldman’s conviction buy list.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Samsung’s move to cut memory chip production could lead to a faster-than-expected recovery for the broader memory chip market, according to Wall Street.

Along with preliminary results pointing to a 96% drop in quarterly profit, the company said on Friday that it plans to cut production of two types of memory as it deals with a mismatch between supply and demand.

Investors saw the move as a potential positive for competitors, sending shares of Micron Technology and Western Digital up more than 8%. Citi analyst Christopher Danely called the news a “huge positive” for the dynamic random access memory industry.

Read more about why many on Wall Street praise the move here.

– Samantha Subin

Shares were coming off their worst levels in afternoon trading. As of 2:13 PM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 46 points, or 0.14%. The S&P 500 was lower by 0.11%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.28%.

At the low of the session, the Dow was down as much as 141.86 points, or 0.42%. The S&P 500 fell 0.79%, and the Nasdaq fell 1.35%.

—Sarah Min

Movie theater chains AMC Entertainment Holdings, Cinemark Holdings and IMAX shares rose in midday trading Monday after the successful opening of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”

Since its April 5 release, the film has grossed more than $204 million in the United States, according to data from Box Office Mojo. The film is distributed by Universal Pictures.

AMC shares rose more than 6%, while Cinemark shares rose more than 5%. IMAX shares rose 1.9%.

Disclaimer: Universal Pictures and CNBC are both owned by NBCUniversal.

—Sarah Min