In today’s trading session, most Asian stocks showed declines as traders faced challenges in capitalizing on Wall Street’s high performance. Optimism towards interest rate cut in June is fading, while the attention shifted towards the earnings season in the United States, where there’s a sense of optimism surrounding companies’ profit forecasts. 

Today’s trade data from China demands investor’s attention. Any indication of weaker trade terms may challenge the prevailing optimism regarding the economic outlook. 

Economists anticipate a 3% year-on-year decrease in exports following a 7.1% increase in February. Additionally, economists project a 1.2% year-on-year growth in imports, compared to a 3.5% increase in February. Furthermore, economists predict a narrowing of the US dollar surplus from $125.16 billion to $70.20 billion. 

Weaker-than-expected imports and exports would coincide with recent inflation data from China, indicating a subdued demand environment as evidenced by producer and consumer prices. Furthermore, underwhelming figures could influence buyer demand for the Australian dollar.

Meanwhile, Tech giants contributed to the upward momentum in the Nasdaq and S&P 500 index, as the producer price index data largely met expectations. This helped alleviate concerns about inflation, which had escalated following Wednesday’s report showing a third consecutive successive upside turn in consumer prices. 

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slightly went up by 0.21%, trading at 39,523.55. While the Shanghai Composite plummeted by 0.48%, trading at 3,019.75. 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also went down by 2.03%, trading at 16,751.38. South Korea’s Kospi also went down by 0.93%, trading at 2,681.82 while India’s Nifty 50 plummeted by 0.53%, trading at 22,632.45. 

In Australia, S&P/ASX 200 dropped by 0.56% trading at 7,788.1.