Asia markets largely fell after Wall Street logs worst week for the year

Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell on Monday after stocks on Wall Street marked their worst week for 2023 on Friday.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 1.12% lower at 7,224.8. In South Korea, the Kospi finished 0.87% down at 2,402.64, and the Kosdaq rose 0.18% to end the day at 780.3.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.11% to close at 27,423.96 and the Topix rose 0.22% to finish at 1992.78 as the Bank of Japan governor nominee Kazuo Ueda spoke to the country's upper house on Monday.

In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component dipped 0.73% to end the day at 11,701.94, and the Shanghai Composite fell 0.28% to close at 3,258.03. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 0.17% in its final hour of trade, and the Hang Seng Tech index saw a similar loss at 0.19% down.

TICKER COMPANY NAME PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE
.N225 Nikkei 225 Index NIKKEI 27,423.96 -29.52 -0.11%
.HSI Hang Seng Index HSI 19,944.77 -65.27 -0.33%
.AXJO S&P/ASX 200 ASX 200 7,224.80 -82.20 -1.12%
.SSEC Shanghai SHANGHAI 3,258.03 -9.13 -0.28%
.KS11 KOSPI Index KOSPI 2,402.64 -20.97 -0.87%
.FTFCNBCA CNBC 100 ASIA IDX CNBC 100 8,022.81 -68.65 -0.85%
Stocks on Wall Street ended the week on Friday with sharp declines as the U.S. Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge showed a stronger-than-expected increase in prices last month.

The S&P 500 was down 2.7%, marking its worst week since Dec. 9. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 3.0% this week — its fourth straight losing week. The Nasdaq Composite closed 3.3% lower, notching its second negative week in three.

Venture capital firm 500 Global is bullish despite a decline in funding

Global venture capital firm 500 Global is bullish on the VC sector even as startup funding declined 35% in 2022 and startups saw a slowdown in growth from rising inflation and interest rates.

"There is definitely a drop in the allocation towards ventures this year, but it really depends on which markets you are investing in, and what the opportunities set in those markets are," said Vishal Harnal, managing partner of 500 Global, on CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" Monday.

He added that he would not call it a funding winter. Instead, unprofitable startups have been forced to be more cost-efficient and burn less cash.

"Now that there has been a switch or transition to a different way of doing business, a different modality, we are switching playbooks again," said Harnal, adding that there is still $15 billion of venture capital waiting to be deployed.

"There is definitely a drop in the allocation towards ventures this year, but it really depends on which markets you are investing in, and what the opportunities set in those markets are," said Vishal Harnal, managing partner of 500 Global, on CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" Monday.

He added that he would not call it a funding winter. Instead, unprofitable startups have been forced to be more cost-efficient and burn less cash.

"Now that there has been a switch or transition to a different way of doing business, a different modality, we are switching playbooks again," said Harnal, adding that there is still $15 billion of venture capital waiting to be deployed.

– Sheila Chiang

Fitch expects Singapore banks to continue their strong growth
Ratings agency Fitch said earnings of Singapore banks will "improve materially" in 2023 as rising interest rates boost their revenue, particularly in the first half of the year.

Fitch noted that Singapore is the only banking sector in the Asia-Pacific with an improving outlook for 2023, although this was premised on wider margins and well-contained credit costs for the sector.

It added that asset-quality risks remain manageable and costs from higher debt service burdens are likely to be well covered by the "sizeable" general provisions that the banks hold on their books.

Shares of the three major Singapore banks were mixed on Monday, with DBS down 0.35%, OCBC up 0.24%, and UOB lower marginally.

The demand from China's reopening is not yet fully reflected in oil prices, said Paul Sankey, president and lead analyst at Sankey Research.

"China data is looking really lively from a mobility and activity standpoint, but it's not really showing up in oil prices," he said, adding that the oil prices are not acting as well as they expected it would right now.