Asia Markets Rise in Muted Session as Most Markets Closed for Holiday

This is CNBC Live Blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Tokyo and Seoul stocks traded higher in a quiet session on Friday, as markets in Asia-Pacific are closed due to a holiday.

You can also find out more about the following:

Nikkei 225

In Japan, the Topix rose 0.4% and by 0.27%. In South Korea the

Kospi

The Kosdaq gained 1%, while the Dow Jones rose 0.74%

Australia, Hong Kong and mainland China are closed.

The U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls Report on Friday will determine the direction of the Federal Reserve. This report follows the ADP report from this week, which showed

U.S. private pay growth was less than expected

In March. This week, a report by the Labor Department also revealed the number of positions available.

The number of people who attended the February meeting fell below 10 millions

For the first time since nearly two years. The number of job cuts has also increased.

Nearly fivefold

So far, this year has been better than last year.

Stocks on Wall Street ended the day higher Thursday, boosted by technology.

Nasdaq Composite

Alphabet, the parent company of Google and Microsoft, jumped 0.76%. The

S&P 500

After paring previous losses, the index rose by 0.36%.

The first week of declines in four

While the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

Inched up.

This report was contributed by Yun Li and Alex Harring of CNBC.

Japan's household expenditure rises less than expected

Japan's total household expenditure rose by 1.6% in February, compared to a year earlier.

government data

showed.

The reading was below the 4.3% expected in a Reuters survey, but it did improve from a 0.3% contraction seen in January.

All household expenditures fell by 2.4% month-on-month. This reverses the 2.7% growth seen the previous months.

Japan's economy also saw a decline

Paying overtime in February

The rise is 1.7%, compared to a year earlier. This is a slight increase from the previous readings of 1.1%.

Jihye Le

Samsung Electronics' operating profit falls 96% in Q1

Samsung Electronics estimated

According to the latest company report, its first-quarter profit is likely to fall to 600 billion won ($455 millions).

Earnings guidance

Released on Friday

This is a 95.7% drop from the operating profit of 14,12 trillion won that was reported in

same quarter in 2022

.

Samsung's release stated that revenue is expected to be down nearly 20% from last year's total of 63 trillion won.

Samsung Electronics shares soared 3.2% in the opening hours following the company's estimates.

Jihye Le

Bullard believes inflation will be sticky

James Bullard, the St. Louis Federal Reserve president, said on Thursday that he does not expect inflationary pressures to go away anytime soon.

Bullard, according to Reuters, said that we have a long way to go. "I think inflation will be sticky in the future. It's going be difficult to bring inflation down to the 2% goal. So, we're going to need to keep up pressure on inflation to ensure it falls," he added.

The Fed will meet next month. Traders have priced in a 50-50 chance that another rate increase is likely.

Fred Imbert

Earnings expected to decline by the most since Q3 2020

Next week, the first quarter earnings season will begin with major banks like JPMorgan and Citigroup. Goldman Sachs says that the consensus expectation is for S&P 500 earnings per share to decline by 7% over the past year. This would be the biggest drop since the third quarter 2020. The bank also said that it will be a "significant decline" from the 1% drop in the previous quarter.

-- Yun Li

Last week's unemployment claims were 228,000, which is higher than expected

The Labor Department reported that jobless claims totaled 228 000 for the week ending April 1, as signs of a tightening labor market are increasing, it said.

Total actually represented a decrease of 18,000 from week before. This was due to seasonal revisions which increased the initial reported number by 48,000, to 246,000. Dow Jones surveyed economists who expected 200,000 in the report on Thursday.

The number of continuing claims has increased to 1.82 million, its highest level since December 2021.

The report is released a day before the Department's nonfarm payrolls, which are expected to show an increase of 238,000 in March.

--Jeff Cox