Asia Markets Fall as Investors Weigh Yellen Remarks on Banks; Japan Core Inflation Slows

This is CNBC’s live blog that covers Asia-Pacific markets.

As investors poured money into Asia-Pacific markets, they fell a lot on Friday.

Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury Secretary, weighs in

According to a spokesperson, federal emergency actions to support regional banks that have failed could be used again if necessary.

This message was different from Yellen's remarks a day earlier when she said to senators that Treasury was not looking into any plans to insure U.S. bank deposit without congressional approval.

Japan is home to the

Nikkei 225

The Topix suffered a smaller loss of 0.388%. Core inflation in February was 3.1%, which is the lowest level of inflation in the country in 14 months.

South Korea

Kospi

The Kosdaq traded higher at 0.877%, losing 0.23% Australia's

S&P/ASX 200

It was 0.59 percent lower.

PMI estimates for March will be released by Australia and Japan for both the manufacturing and service sectors.

Stocks ended higher in the US on Thursday, after volatile trading sessions. Tech-heavy

Nasdaq Composite

Led gains and climbed 1 percent, while the

S&P 500

Closed 0.2% higher than the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose to 73.66 points

CNBC's Hakyung, Tanaya and Christina Wilkie

This report was contributed by you.

Treasury Secretary Yellen said that emergency measures to backstop banks can be used again if necessary

Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary, stated Thursday that the federal emergency measures used to support customers of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank were not sufficient to save them.

You can use it again if needed.

"We used important tools to quickly prevent contagion. They are tools that we could use again," Yellen stated in written testimony before a House Appropriations Subcommittee.

She said that the strong actions taken by us ensure Americans' deposits are secure. "We would be willing to take additional action if necessary."

These comments were made as regulators sought to reassure investors and customers amid the banking crisis caused by Silicon Valley Bank's closing.

-- Alex Harring, Christina Wilkie

Japan's core inflation has fallen since January peak

According to government data, Japan's core inflation fell from 4.2% in January and rose to 3.1% in February.

According to Reuters, the reading is in line with economists' expectations.

Inflation overall was 3.3% in the month, which is lower than the 4.3% print for January.

Year-over-year, the economy's consumer price index (excluding fresh food and energy) also increased 3.5%.

-- Jihye Le

CNBC Pro: Why one manager of a fund has never owned bank stock -- and what he prefers instead

After last week's selloff some investors are looking to get back in on bank stocks, but Ian Mortimer, fund manager, is keeping his distance.

He has not owned any bank stock in any of the funds he manages. CNBC Pro Talks reveals his reasons.

Pro subscribers can

Read more

.

-- Zavier Ong

CNBC Pro: Wall Street downgrades European Banks and names stocks to purchase "in case the markets turn sour".

After stress in the sector, Wall Street has begun to downgrade European banks. This is after two large Swiss banks were forced to merge emergency.

Two investments also upgraded another industry and named a dozen stocks for "in the event that markets turn sour".

CNBC

-- Ganesh Rao

Below expectations, jobless claims are reported

Last week's unexpectedly low unemployment claims pointed to a tight labor market.

The Labor Department reported that initial filings for unemployment insurance were 191,000 in the week ending March 18. This was below the estimate of 198,000. This was 1,000 less than the previous period.

Continuing claims rose 14,000 to reach 1.694million, a week later.

The data release impacted stock market futures and led to a slight decline.

--Jeff Cox

Markets rise as tech shares lead

Tech shares performed better than Thursday with the Nasdaq 100 index rising more than 1.4%. Netflix was one of the top performers, with a 7% increase. Meta Platforms shares, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon also rose by more than 1%.

Fred Imbert

Thursday afternoon, cryptocurrency prices rebound

On Thursday, cryptocurrency prices rose as investors believed that the Federal Reserve's rate-hiking campaign was coming to an end. Wall Street has also lost some of its concerns about the continuing crisis in the banking sector.

The price of

Bitcoin

According to Coin Metrics, the increase was more than 4% and reached $28,290.71

Ether

Traded at $1,822.50 with an additional 5%

Crypto was a risk asset that rose along with other ones. All

Three of the most important stock indexes

They were higher after the Fed-induced sell-off in their previous session.

The full story is available here

here.

-- Tanaya Macheel, Hakyung Kim

The S&P 500's biggest laggard is energy

The S&P 500's worst performer was Energy, which fell 0.7% in afternoon trading on Thursday.

Schlumberger N.V.

shares dropped 2.3%.

Halliburton Company

And

Hess Corporation

Dropped by 2% and 1.5% respectively

-- Sarah Min