Asia-Pacific markets set for cautious start after U.S. stocks decline overnight

Asia-Pacific markets set for cautious start after U.S. stocks decline overnight

SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific stocks fell Tuesday, following a sell-off in tech stocks that weighed down major U.S. indexes overnight. Japan's led declines in early trade, shedding around 2.2% while the Topix moved 1.7% lower. South Korea's fell around 1.4%. In Australia, the inched down 0.8% ahead of the government's budget announcement on Tuesday evening. as investors exited Big Tech stocks including Microsoft and Apple. The Nasdaq Composite suffered the largest loss, falling by 2.5%. China's inflation data for April will be on investors' watchlist. Analysts polled by Reuters expect Chinese consumer prices rose 1% last month from a year ago, accelerating from China is also expected to release results of its once-in-a-decade population census. Elsewhere in the region, Southeast Asian countries Malaysia and the Philippines are scheduled to report first-quarter gross domestic product data. Analysts in a Reuters poll expect Malaysia's economy to shrink 2% in in the January-to-March quarter compared with a year ago and the Philippine economy to contract 3% in the same period. Currencies and oil In the foreign exchange market, the strengthened slightly to 90.283 against a basket of its peers in early Asia trade. The changed hands at 108.94 per dollar, while the dipped 0.08%