Japan’s Nikkei 225 extends rally to new highs

China’s Ministry of Commerce said Monday that the U.S. had 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 firmly supported the multilateral trading system and fulfilled its WTO commitments.

—Lee Ying Shan

South Korea’s financial regulatory body announced steps to better corporate governance on Monday, taking a leaf out of Japan’s playbook, to boost its undervalued stock markets and address the “Korea discount.”

Korea’s Financial Services Commission provided details on its “Corporate Value-up Program,” which aims to prioritize shareholder returns through various incentives including tax benefits.

Korean authorities acknowledged the similarities in its program with that of Japan’s, which has seen Tokyo markets hitting record highs for the first time in 34 years.

The FSC said it will also introduce the “Korea Value-up Index” for institutional investors, including pension funds.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

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

“It’s certainly where I would have more money than I would in China at the moment,” the president of Independent Strategy told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” when asked about prospects for India and Indonesia. “I would also, by the way, still have more money in places like Japan than I would in China,” he added.

Roche noted that there are plenty of companies in China which are “fundamentally cheap,” but major problems such as deflation still plague the economy. Still, Roche said Chinese markets could be in for a bounce.

“When markets fall as much as China has done, they’re in for a bounce,” he said.

—Lee Ying Shan

China is still a critical trading partner for many countries across the world, and the often-used narrative of the superpower being delinked from the global economy is overdone, says the Asian Development Bank. 

“China’s still probably the number one trading partner for the majority of countries in the world,” ADB’s Chief Economist Albert Park told CNBC. “The story of China being delinked from the global economy — I think those are probably generally very overdone or very partial.”

The economic powerhouse remains a top trading partner to over 120 countries, and is still the largest trading partner to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, according to U.S. think tank Wilson Center.

China also continues to play an outsized role in the global economy as the world’s largest trading economy even with trade tensions between China and the U.S. festering since 2018.

—Lee Ying Shan

Japan’s services producer price index clocked a smaller year-over-year increase in January, according to official data.

The services PPI rose 2.1% in January from the previous year. The reading was smaller than a 2.4% increase recorded in December.

Japan’s services PPI, however, fell 0.5% in January from December.

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

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Investors seeking to protect their portfolio from the risk of inflation re-emerging 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.

Lait, once a Goldman Sachs analyst, believes these stocks can grow 10-15% a year while acting as a hedge against inflation.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

The buzz around Nvidia shows no sign of abating, with the chip giant posting another quarter of multi-billion dollar revenue upside.

The company, which had already rocketed over 200% in 2023, rose 13% higher on the back of its earnings report. This year alone, it has risen around 58%, with Nvidia last closing around $785 on Thursday.

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

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Here’s how the major indexes closed on Friday:

— Pia Singh

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon sold about 800,000 shares of the bank on Thursday, generating about $150 million, according to a securities filing and VerityData.

The move appeared to be part of 10b5 plan for corporate executives to sell their stock.

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

— Jesse Pound

AI-adjacent big tech stocks have propelled the equity market to new highs, but there could still be more room ahead for gains.

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

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

Besides being beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence theme, Marcus also pointed out that many big tech firms have strong balance sheets and earnings growth potential, characteristics that can weather a higher interest rate environment.

However, the wealth manager also underscored that the market rally is likely to broaden in 2024.

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

— Lisa Kailai Han