The markets of Japan, South Korea and China are open

Shares of state-owned real estate developer China Vanke fell 2.3% in early trading after the company reported a decline in full-year profits and revenue.

The company reported net profits of 12.16 billion yuan (1.69 billion US dollars), down 46.4% from last year. Revenue for the full year was 465.74 billion yuan, down 7.6% year-on-year.

Reuters reported that CEO Zhou Jiucheng said at an earnings conference that the company aims to reduce interest-bearing debt by 100 billion yuan in the next two years.

Reuters reported earlier this month that Chinese regulators met with major banks to discuss boosting financing support for China Vanke.

China's broader CSI 300 index rose 0.2%.

– Shreyashi Sanyal

Tokyo's overall CPI rose 2.6% in March year-on-year. Official data showed. Inflation in the Japanese capital remained above the Bank of Japan's 2% target.

Tokyo's core CPI, which excludes fresh food but includes petroleum products, rose 2.4% year-on-year, in line with economists' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.4% rise.

Consumer prices, excluding food and energy, rose 2.9% year-on-year in March, after rising 3.1% in February.

The Japanese yen traded at 151.35 against the US dollar. The currency recently reached a 34-year low against the dollar at 151.97.

Official data Data showed retail sales fell in South Korea in February, while industrial production rose.

Retail sales fell 3.1% from the previous month, the largest decline since July. This follows a 1% rise in January.

The industrial production index for February rose 3.1% on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the fastest rise since August. This comes after a 1.5% decline in January.

Stocks in South Korea fell in early trading on Friday.

– Shreyashi Sanyal

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a new record high on Thursday.

The broader market index rose 0.11% to settle at 5,254.35, having its best first quarter since 2019. The 30-stock Dow Jones index rose 47.29 points, or 0.12%, to settle at 39,807.37, putting it far from the 40,000 level. On the other hand, The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.12% to close at 16,379.46.

-Lisa Kailai Han

Oil prices rose more than a dollar on Thursday and are on track for a third monthly gain.

The West Texas Intermediate May contract rose $1.82, or 2.24%, to settle at $83.17 a barrel. The May Brent contract, which expired on Thursday, added $1.39, or 1.61%, to settle at $87.48 per barrel.

US crude rose by 6.27% during the month, while global benchmark crude rose by 4.62%.

Prices are rising due to strong demand and low supply. Morgan Stanley expected a deficit of 400,000 barrels per day in the second quarter and 800,000 barrels per day in the third quarter.

-Spencer Kimball

Retail investors piled into stocks as the end of the first quarter approached, buying $3.5 billion in stocks last week, according to JP Morgan.

“At a per-share level, retailers showed the strongest buying push in more than a year,” Ping Cheng, the company’s head of big data and AI strategies, wrote in a note on Wednesday.

“They reversed their previous bearish stance and bought NVDA aggressively (+$1.2 billion),” he added.

Nvidia, Tesla, and Advanced Micro Devices received the largest retail inflows.

– Michelle Fox

All sectors in the S&P 500 are expected to end March in positive territory.

Energy stocks were the clear best performers this month relative to the S&P 500. The sector was up nearly 10% this month, followed closely by the materials and utilities sectors, rising 6% and 5.9%, respectively.

The worst-performing sector in the S&P 500 was consumer discretionary names, down nearly 1% this month.

-Lisa Kailai Han