Investing.com - Asian shares drifted lower on Wednesday with Sydney and Tokyo digesting prices data that came in slightly on the upside.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.08%, while the S&P/ASX 200 dipped 1.77%.
In Japan, the corporate services price index gained 0.3% in September for the 39th straight rise after a 0.2% rise in August and more than the 0.2% increase seen year-on-year.
In Australia, third quarter CPI rose 0.7%, beating the 0.5% rise expected quarter-on-quarter and set a 1.3% pace year-on-year, also beating expectations.
Underlying inflation, the average of trimmed-mean and weighted-median inflation, rose 0.35% quarter-on-quarter and at a 1.5% year-on-year pace. This is roughly the measure the RBA uses in its cash-rate deliberations. The Reserve Bank of Australia's inflation target band is 2% to 3%. The figure was lower than expected and at a record low owing to an upward revision in past data. This data continue to make a case for more RBA easing.
The Shanghai Composite Index easeed 0.21% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.49%.
The yuan was slightly stronger against the dollar after the People's Bank of China strengthened the fixing for the first time in four business days at 6.7705.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Consumer Services, Telecoms and Oil & Gas sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.30%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.38%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.50%.