Asia-Pacific markets were set to track Wall Street losses after U.S. January inflation came in hotter than expected, with the consumer price index climbing 3.1% on a 12-month basis and 0.3% for the month.
Economists polled by Dow Jones expected the CPI to have increased by 0.2% month over month in January and 2.9% on an annual basis.
Core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy components, rose 0.4% month over month and 3.9% from a year ago.
Core CPI was expected to have increased 0.3% in January and 3.7% from a year earlier, respectively.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was also set to retreat from 34-year highs, with the futures contract in Chicago at 37,715 and its counterpart in Osaka at 37,670 against the index's last close of 37,963.97.
Persons:
Dow Jones, Masato Kanda
Organizations:
U.S, CPI, Nikkei, Reuters, Stock
Locations:
Asia, Pacific, Australia, Chicago, Osaka