SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific looked set for a lower start on Wednesday as investors await the release of inflation data from China and the U.S.

The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 26,110 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 26,060 — lower than the Nikkei 225’sLast close: 26,167.10.

Australian stocks were also poised for a dip with the SPI futures contract standing at 7,014, against the S&P/ASX 200’sLast close was at 7,051.20.

China’s inflation data will be released on Wednesday. Both the producer price index for April and the consumer price indicator are set to go live at 9:30 AM HK/SIN. As the country continues to fight its worst Covid pandemic since it began in the early 2020s, the data will be released.

The U.S. April consumer price index is also set to be released Wednesday statesideIt is expected to come in slightly below March’s 8.5% which could signal that inflation has reached a peak.

Joseph Capurso from international economics wrote, “The US CPI is April’s highlight today, and the week-end’s highlight,” in a note.

According to US economists, headline inflation is expected to decrease from 1.2%/mth during March to 0.2%/mth during April. This will be due to stable retail petrol prices. Capurso indicated that core inflation would rise from 0.3%/mth to 0.4%/mth between March and April.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 climbed about 0.25% to 4,001.05 while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.98% to 11,737.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, falling 84.96 points — or 0.26% — to 32,160.74.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 103.92 — above levels below 103.8 seen earlier in the week.

The Japanese yenThe dollar traded at 130.34 dollars, which is stronger than the levels of 130.5 earlier in this week. The Australian dollarAfter falling to $0.70 in the previous week, it traded for $0.6937.