Asia-Pacific stocks rise as investors react to monetary tightening in South Korea, Singap.

Japan +1.17%.

China +0.78%

Hong Kong +0.50%

Australia +0.62%. Australia March 2002 Jobs +20.5K fulltime, total +17.9K (vs. expected +40K).

Australia inflation expectations (Melbourne Institute’s April survey) 5.2% (vs. prior 4.9%).

Overnight on Wall Street, Dow Jones shed 87.72 points, or 0.26%, to 34,220.36, S&P 500 dipped 0.34% to 4,397.45, while Nasdaq declined 0.3% to 13,371.57.

South Korean central bank with an unexpected rate hike, up 25bps to 1.5%.

Singapore data – Preliminary Q1 GDP +0.4% q/q and +3.4% y/y.

New Zealand BusinessNZ Manufacturing PMI March: 53.8 (prior 53.6).

Oil prices fell on Thursday, after rising sharply in the first half of the week, as traders weighed a larger-than-expected build in U.S. oil stocks against tightening global supply.

Brent futures were down 45 cents, or 0.4%, at $108.33 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were off 69 cents, or 0.7%, at $103.56 a barrel at 0354 GMT.

U.S. futures higher. Dow Jones +0.24%; S&P 500 +0.24%; Nasdaq +0.45%.