This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Thursday as investors digested a slew of economic data across the region.

China kept its one and five-year loan prime rates unchanged, days after China's second quarter GDP came in below expectations.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index extended its losses from the last two days, falling 0.26%. Mainland Chinese markets were also all lower, with the Shanghai Composite down 0.92% to end at 3,169.52. The Shenzhen Component closed 1.06% down at 10,816 to record its fifth straight session of losses.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 1.23% to close at 32,490.52, while the Topix was 0.79% lower at 2,260.9 as the country posted a surprise trade surplus of 43 billion yen ($308 million), its first surplus in 23 months.

South Korea's Kospi was down 0.31% at 2,600.23, with the Kosdaq advancing 0.85% and ending at 931.6 to continue pushing 16 month highs.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose marginally, ending the day at 7,325 as its unemployment rate for June fell slightly to 3.5%, compared to the 3.6% seen in May.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes gained as the corporate earnings season continued, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and its longest winning streak in nearly four years.

The Dow traded 0.31% higher to register its eighth straight day of gains, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.24%. The Nasdaq Composite saw the smallest gains, adding 0.03%

— CNBC's Sarah Min and Brian Evans contributed to this report

TSMC reports first quarterly profit decline in 4 years amid electronics demand slump

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company reported a second-quarter profit and revenue plunge on Thursday.

Second quarter revenue fell 10% to NT$480.84 billion ($15.68 billion), while net income plunged 23.3% from a year ago to NT$181.8 billion. This is TSMC's first quarterly net income drop in 4 years.

TSMC said business was impacted by macroeconomic headwinds "which dampened the end market demand, and led to customers' ongoing inventory adjustment."

Despite the decreases, the results were better than market expectations of NT$478.83 billion revenue and NT$172.55 billion net income.

Read the full report here.

— Sheila Chiang

China state-owned banks buying yuan to slow declines: Reuters

China's major state-owned banks were seen selling dollars to buy yuan in the offshore spot market in early trades on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Citing two people "with direct knowledge of the matter", Reuters said one of the sources also revealed that such moves was meant to slow the pace of yuan declines.

The offshore yuan strengthened 0.66% on afternoon, trading at 7.1839 against the greenback.

India’s smartphone shipments stabilize after three quarters of decline: Canalys

India's smartphone market stabilized in the second quarter with 36.1 million units shipped, according to a report by Canalys. 

That figure represents a 1% dip from a year ago, far better than the 20% drop in the first quarter. Shipments also declined by 27% and 6% in the fourth and third quarter of 2022, respectively.

Samsung continued to dominate in the second quarter, claiming about 18% market share with 6.6 million shipments, according to Canalys. Vivo followed closely shipping 6.4 million phones, while Xiaomi ranked third with 5.4 million shipments. 

Read the full story here.

— Charmaine Jacob

Australia unemployment remains unchanged at 3.5% in June

Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.5% in June, slightly lower than the 3.6% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

Data from Australian statistics' bureau said in June, the employment-to-population ratio remained at 64.5%, with total unemployment decreasing 1,600 to 505,500.

The employment rate is one of the key metrics the Reserve Bank of Australia considers when it meets to discuss rate decisions.

— Lim Hui Jie

China keen to move into new areas of growth to spur economy: HSBC

China wants to shift to new high-end growth areas like IT to spur the economy, said Herald van der Linde, head of equity strategy, Asia Pacific at HSBC.

"They don't want to go back to the old growth model, which was real estate and investments in infrastructure. They've had enough of that," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia."

Instead, "they want to move to a new growth model," that focuses on high-end technology, renewables and election vehicles, he added. But there is no clear direction from Beijing's policymakers on those specific details yet, he said.

"We've got a new economic team that came in February this year. They presumably have met, they've come up with plans and supposedly in the next month or so, we're going to get some more details on what exactly they're going to do," noted Linde.

"And I think this is what the market is waiting for. It gives us an idea of what direction they're really going to go for."   

— Sumathi Bala

China holds one year and five year loan prime key rates unchanged at 3.55% and 4.2%.

China left its one year and five year loan prime rates unchanged at 3.55% and 4.2% respectively, days after it also left its medium term facility loan rates unchanged at 2.65%.

This also comes after the country saw its second quarter GDP growth come in below expectations on Monday, recording a 6.3% rise year on year compared to the 7.3% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

China last cut its loan prime rate in June, when its lowered the one-year and five-year loan prime rates by 10 basis points.

— Lim Hui Jie

CNBC Pro: Goldman Sachs shares its top stock picks for China A.I. — and 2 are on its conviction list

Goldman Sachs named Chinese stocks it says are likely to benefit from developments in generative artificial intelligence — and two are on the bank's conviction list of buy-rated names. 

In two research notes dated July 16, Goldman gave an overview of opportunities and risks created by generative AI and picked the stocks likely to benefit.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Lucy Handley

Japan records first trade surplus in almost two years

Japan recorded a surprise trade surplus of 43.05 billion yen ($308.5 million) in June, marking the first time in 23 months that the world's third-largest economy has posted a surplus.

This was a sharp reversal from the 1.38 trillion yen deficit recorded in May, and the 1.37 trillion yen seen in June 2022.

Government data showed that the surplus was mainly due to a fall in imports. Imports slid 12.9% year on year in June, while exports recorded a 1.5% rise compared with the same period last year.

— Lim Hui Jie

CNBC Pro: 'They are real, they are proliferating': Tech investor names 2 internet-of-things stocks to own

Major technology trends like artificial intelligence dominate headlines. But some niche plays like the Internet of Things (IoT) offer significant potential despite lower hype, according to tech investor Richard Clode.

Clode, fund manager at Janus Henderson Investors, named two IoT stocks he sees as long-term winners. He manages the $3.2 billion Horizon Global Technology Leaders Fund, which is invested in both stocks.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

CNBC Pro: ASML shares surged more than 30% this year. Here's where Wall Street sees the stock going

Shares of ASML have soared this year on the buzz around semiconductor firms and artificial intelligence — its Netherlands-listed shares have jumped about 32% in the year to date, while its U.S.-listed ones have surged almost 40%.

But it's facing a number of risks, including U.S.-China tensions.

Where will the stock go from here? CNBC Pro trawled through Wall Street research to find out.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Second-quarter earnings scorecard

Second-quarter earnings season is just getting started, with 10% of S&P 500 companies posting results so far. Of the 50 companies that have reported, 64% have topped revenue estimates, while 80% have beaten earnings per share expectations, according to Refinitiv data.

Based on the blended growth rate, earnings are expected to fall more 8.2% from a year ago and revenues are expected to drop 0.8% year over year. The rate combines data from firms that have already reported data and those waiting to report.

— Samantha Subin

Goldman Sachs misses on earnings

Wall Street behemoth Goldman Sachs undershot expectations for the second-quarter on Wednesday, despite the firm trying to level expectations beforehand.

Goldman reported an adjusted $3.08 per share and $10.9 billion in revenue, while analysts polled by Refinitiv forecasted $3.18 and $10.84 billion, respectively. Goldman stock slipped 0.4% in premarket trading.

— Brian Evans

Regional bank stocks rise after first wave of earnings

Investors appear to breathing a sigh of relief after the first wave of regional bank earnings.

The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) rose about 1% in early trading as investors and analysts shift through reports from Western Alliance, US Bancorp and others.

Shares of Phoenix-based Western Alliance rose more than 2% despite earnings per share of $1.96 per share, 2 cents below estimates, according to Refinitiv.

— Jesse Pound

Agricultural commodities rise Wednesday

Corn, wheat and soybeans jumped Wednesday. Concerns over dry weather forecasts in the U.S. Midwest and Russian air strikes on the Black Sea port of Odessa following its withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative spurred wheat prices higher.

Wheat futures are up 5.4% Wednesday and almost 6% week to date, on track for their best week since June 23.

Soybean futures are up 1.7% as of Wednesday morning, reaching a high of 437.4 dollars per short ton.

Corn futures jumped 3.1%Wednesday to 551.5 cents per bushel. Corn is up 7.2% week to date, on track for its best week since May 26.

— Hakyung Kim, Nick Wells