Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region (APR) are predominantly growing in Tuesday’s trading on the back of the rise of the U.S. stock market.

U.S. stock indices ended Monday with strong gains, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq rising the most in almost a week.

Investors remain focused on the increase in COVID-19 infections in China. Market participants fear that tough restrictive measures could further slow growth in the second-largest economy, negatively impacting global GDP.

Investors are also watching comments from the chairmen of the world’s major central banks to understand their intentions for the future of monetary policy.

Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.5% by 8:29 Moscow time.

Japan’s unemployment rate fell to a one-year low of 2.6% in March 2022 from 2.7% a month earlier. Analysts on average expected the rate to remain at February’s level, according to Trading Economics.

In the Japanese index, the leaders of growth are securities of M3 Inc . (TYO:2413) (+5%), which provides medical services, investment company SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) (+4.7%) and holding company Z Holdings Corp. (TYO:4689) (+3.8%).

The securities of Asia’s largest clothing retailer Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. (TYO:9983) are up 0.5%.

By 8:40 Moscow time, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1%.

Leading the growth among the components of the Hong Kong index are the securities of Internet companies JD.com Inc. (SPB: NASDAQ:JD) (+7.6%), Netease Inc. (+6.5%) and Meituan (HK:3690) (+6.3%).

The price of securities of electronics manufacturers Techtronic Industries (HK:0669) Co. Ltd. and Xiaomi Corp. (HK:1810) are up 6.2% and 0.6%, while carmaker Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. (HK:0175) is up 4.3%.

South Korea’s Kospi had gained 0.4% by 8:39 MSC.

South Korea’s economy expanded 0.7% quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2022, compared with a 1.2% rise in the previous quarter, as COVID-19-related restrictions hurt household consumption and investment.

Meanwhile, the figure beat analysts’ expectations, on average forecasting the country’s GDP growth of 0.6%, according to Trading Economics.

The stock price of electronics and memory chip maker Samsung Electronics Co. (KS:005930) is down 0.2%. The capitalization of automaker Kia Corp. (KS:000270) is up 4.7%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index is down 1.9% on Tuesday.

The capitalization of mining BHP Group Ltd. is down 5.4%, Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) Ltd. – by 4.1%.