Neon ads in Dotonbori district, Osaka, Kansai region, Japan
Alexander Spatari | Moment | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets largely fell on Tuesday. Even Japanese stocks, which have been on a record-breaking rally since the start of the year, slipped.
The Nikkei fell 0.45% in early trading after Japan’s corporate goods price index came in flat year-on-year, compared to a 0.3% fall expected by economists in a Reuters poll. The CGPI also climbed 0.3% month on month in December, compared to expectations it will remain flat.
The broad-based Topix also saw a loss of 0.44%.
The country’s benchmark Nikkei 225 has hit key milestones of 34,000, 35,000 and 36,000 — levels the index has not seen since 1990.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 is on pace for a third straight day of losses, falling nearly 1%.
South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.8%, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.4%.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 16,165, pointing to a weaker open compared with the HSI’s close of 16,216.33.
U.S. markets were closed Monday due to the Martin Luther King holiday, but futures indicate that the three main indexes were likely to fall when markets resume trading.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.13%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures were each 0.15% lower.
Investors are looking ahead to U.S. December retail sales data out Wednesday, which could fuel recessionary fears and concerns about economic growth if consumer spending shows signs of cooling down.
Economists polled by FactSet anticipate an increase of 0.2% for the month, slightly under the 0.3% increase in November.
— CNBC’s Pia Singh contributed to this report