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

Reflections of pedestrians on an electronics stock indicator at the window of a securities company in Tokyo, Japan.

Toshifumi Kitamura | AFP | Getty Images

SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific markets are set for a cautious open Tuesday, following a sell-off in tech stocks that weighed down major U.S. indexes overnight.

Stock futures tied to Japan's Nikkei 225 pointed to opening losses for the benchmark, after ending Monday's session 0.55% higher. In Australia, SPI 200 futures also similarly indicated a cautious start for the ASX 200, which closed 1.3% higher on Monday.

U.S. markets fell overnight as investors exited Big Tech stocks including Microsoft and Apple. The Nasdaq Composite suffered the largest loss, falling by 2.5%.

In the upcoming trading session in Asia, 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 0.4% in March.

China is also expected to release results of its once-in-a-decade population census.

Elsewhere in the region, the Philippines is scheduled to report first-quarter gross domestic product data. Analysts in a Reuters poll expect the Southeast Asian economy to shrink 3% in the January-to-March quarter compared with a year ago.

Currencies and oil

In the foreign exchange market, the U.S. dollar was at 90.212 against a basket of its peers in early Asia trade.

The Japanese yen changed hands at 108.82 per dollar, while the Australian dollar was roughly flat at $0.7835.

In oil markets, U.S. crude futures dipped 0.05% to $64.89 per barrel, while global benchmark Brent was around $68.32 per barrel.

— CNBC's Thomas Franck contributed to this report.

Read More