SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific appeared set for a lower start on Wednesday following overnight losses on Wall Street, with investors looking ahead to the release of a private survey on Chinese factory activity for May.

Japanese stocks were expected to start lower. Chicago saw the Nikkei futures contract at 27,235. Osaka had its counterpart at 27,220. Both were lower than their Chicago counterparts. Nikkei 225’sThe last close was at 27279.80.

Futures pointed out that Australian stocks would see declines, with SPI’s futures contract at 7.186 against the S&P/ASX 200’sClosed at 7,211.20. At 9:30 AM HK/SIN, Australia will release its first quarter gross domestic product data.

For a Wednesday holiday, South Korean markets are closed

China’s Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for May will be released at 9:45 a.m. HK/SIN Wednesday.

China’s official manufacturing PMI for May, released Tuesday, came in at 49.6 — an improvement over April’s reading of 47.4. Although the May reading was higher than the expected 48.6 from a Reuters poll, it still fell below the 50 point mark which distinguishes between growth and contraction. The PMI readings represent either month-on-month growth or contraction.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 shed 0.63% to 4,132.15. Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 222.84 Points, or 0.67%, at 32,990.12. Technology-friendly Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.41% to 12,081.39.

The U.S. dollar indexAfter a decline of 102,, which measures the greenback’s value against a basket that its peers, stood at 101.752.

The Japanese yenIt traded at 128.75 dollars, below the level of the greenback’s earlier this week. The Australian dollarThe price was $0.7179 which is still higher than last week’s $0.708 low.