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· Futures little changed after S&P 500 hits fresh record

U.S. stock futures were muted in early morning trading on Friday after the S&P 500 notched a fresh record in the regular session.

Dow futures rose just 16 points. S&P 500 futures hovered above the flatline while Nasdaq 100 futures traded in mildly negative territory.

· Analysts up Asia's forward 12-month earnings forecasts on recovery hopes

Analysts continue to lift Asian companies’ forward-12 month earnings on optimism over economic recovery, although last month’s upgrades were the smallest in nine months, hit by worries over a surge in coronavirus infections in some areas.

Refinitiv data shows a rise of 0.6% in March in the forward 12-month earnings estimates of MSCI Asia-Pacific index firms, for the smallest upgrade since June last year.

However, he said failing vaccine roll-outs, a tightening in financial conditions due to rising UST yields and a stronger dollar could hit the region’s profits this year.

South Korea and Taiwan saw earnings upgrades of 3.5% and 2.4% each in the past month, helped by strong demand for technology products.

· China leads losses among major Asia-Pacific markets; Tencent-backed Linklogis soars in Hong Kong debut

Shares in Asia-Pacific were mostly lower on Friday after the S&P 500 on Wall Street cruised to yet another record closing high overnight.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1.07% to close at 28,698.80.

Shares of Tencent-backed financial technology firm Linklogis surged nearly 10% from their issue price in their Hong Kong debut. Shares of Chinese tech juggernaut Tencent rose fractionally.

Mainland Chinese stocks closed lower as the Shanghai composite shed 0.92% to 3,450.68 while the Shenzhen component slipped 1.263% to 13,813.31.

The moves came as official data released Friday showed Chinese consumer and producer inflation rising in March as compared with a year ago.

The consumer price index for March rose 0.4% from last year, more than expectations for a 0.3% increase in a Reuters poll. The producer price index for March jumped 4.4% from last year, against expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3.5% rise.

In Japan, stocks bucked the overall downward trend regionally. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.2% to close at 29,768.06 while the Topix index advanced 0.39% to finish its trading day at 1,959.47. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.36% on the day to 3,131.88.

Stocks in Australia dipped as the S&P/ASX 200 closed slightly lower at 6,995.20.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.68%.

· Chinese investors sell equities, buy money market funds

Chinese investors are reducing their exposure to stock markets and investing in safe-haven money market funds (MMFs) as stock markets decline from multi-year highs on worries over policy tightening and lofty valuations.

· European markets pull back slightly after record highs

European markets were slightly lower on Friday morning, searching for direction after touching record highs in the previous session.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 hovered 0.15% below the flatline in early trade, with insurance stocks shedding 0.5% as most sectors and major bourses slid into fractionally negative territory.

Reference: CNBC, Reuters