• The Nasdaq fell 1.34% to close Friday’s session at 13,711 points.
• EPAM Systems soared 10% after announcing the exit of operations in Russia.
• Spirit Airlines lost 1% on agreeing to enter into takeover talks with JetBlue.

The US markets closed mixed on Friday but lower for the week across the three key indices as investors continue to hold concerns over interest rate uncertainty alongside the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine

The Dow Jones rose 0.4% to finish the trading day up 138 points to close at 34,721 points.

The tech heavy NASDAQ fell 1.34% to finish the trading day down 186 points to close at 13,711 points.

One bitcoin is worth US$42,003 going into the Asian trading day.

The Australian dollar is stronger against the major currencies and is buying 74.6 US cents.

EPAM Systems soared 10% on Friday after the custom software maker announced it was terminating operations in Russia. Following the news, Stifel analyst David Grossman maintained a ‘buy’ rating on the company, saying the news ‘removes the most visible overhand from a customer standpoint and accelerates EPAM’s initiative to geographically diversify its labor base’ as half of EPAM’s employees are based in Ukraine while several thousand are in Russia and Belarus.

Shares in US-based low cost airline Spirit Airlines fell almost 1% on Friday after the company said it is willing to enter into discussions with JetBlue about its US$3.6bn takeover offer. Last Tuesday, JetBlue made an unsolicited takeover offer to Spirit Airlines for US$33/share in cash, topping a near US$25/share cash-and-stock offer from Frontier for Spirit’s takeover made in February.

And Chipotle is launching the Chipotle Burrito Builder game experience on metaverse platform Roblox, with the top 5 players each day winning free real-life burritos for a year.