Asian shares advance on back of rally on Wall Street

Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday after U.S. stocks stormed back from sharp losses to log strong gains.

Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul advanced while Sydney declined.

Shanghai fell back on renewed concerns over pandemic lockdowns that might further crimp the world’s second-largest economy and hinder global economic growth.

The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.9% to 2902.46, giving up early gains. On Monday it slumped 5.1%.

China’s capital, Beijing, has begun mass testing of more than 3 million people and restricted residents in one part of the city to their compounds, sparking worries of a wider lockdown similar to Shanghai. That city has been locked down for more than two weeks and that has already prompted the International Monetary Fund to trim its growth forecast for China’s economy.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng, which lost 3.7% on Monday, was trading 0.7% higher at 20,000.69.

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.

The economy is rebounding from the travails of the pandemic as the government lifts COVID restrictions since case numbers have abated after a wave of the omicron variant.

“This should drive a bounce back in downtrodden parts of the service sector. And a further drop in precautionary savings should provide an extra boost to consumption," Alex Holmes of Capital Economics said in a commentary. “With private consumption still well below pre-pandemic levels, there is plenty of scope for a rebound," he said.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% to 26,700.11 and India's Sensex gained 1.2% to 57,254.49.

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

US. benchmark oil gained 92 cents to $99.46 per barrel in...