Asian shares advance on back of rally on Wall Street

The Kospi in Seoul gained 0.5% to 2,669.41 after the government reported the South Korean economy grew at a 3.1% annual pace in the first quarter of the year, up 0.7% from the previous quarter.

Umm, to be clear, South Korea’s economy grew 0.7% QoQ in the three months of this year to March 2022, decelerating from a 1.2% expansion from previous quarter but close to the consensus of 0.7%

Exports increased by 4.1%, as exports of goods such as semiconductors and coal & petroleum products expanded. Imports were up by 0.7%, owing to increased imports of crude oil.

Earlier in April, BoK raised its base rate by 25 bps to its highest since August 2019 of 1.50% to tame surging inflation. Next Monday we will hear about their inflation rate YOY; South Korea’s inflation has held above 3% since October, well above the central bank’s 2% target, keeping the pressure on BoK despite having raised interest rates three times since August to 1.25%.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.9% to 7,331.30.

Australia watch.

Watch as the S&P/ASX 200 Index finished by dropping 2.1% to close at 7,318 on Tuesday.

Watch Australia's dollar (currently at $ 0.71604), hovering near 2-month lows, as iron ore prices trend down in light of Chinese lockdowns.

Watch, also the latest YOY inflation numbers due out Wednesday. Markets expect the highest since the global financial crisis.

Watch, also, RBA and a growing sentiment that it is too far behind in tightening monetary policy. Minutes of the latest RBA meeting suggested it was edging closer to raising interest rates for the first time in more than a decade due to

accelerating inflation and rising wages.