Asia-Pacific markets set for lower open as Nasdaq reaches new highs; South Korea inflation in focus

Asia-Pacific markets are set to open lower on Tuesday, despite gains on Wall Street that saw the Nasdaq Composite reached a new record on the strength of tech stocks.

The index was led by gains in Microsoft, Apple and chipmaker Nvidia. It advanced 0.83% to end at 17,879.3.

Traders in Asia are assessing South Korea’s inflation numbers which came in at 2.4% for June, missing expectations by economists polled by Reuters who predicted a inflation rate of 2.7%.

Futures for Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 stood at 7,720, slightly lower than its last close of 7,750.7.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a lower open for the market, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,535 and its counterpart in Osaka at 39,480 compared to the previous close of 39,631.06.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 17,556, lower than the HSI’s last close of 17,718.61.

Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 recorded gains, rising 0.13% and 0.27% respectively.

—CNBC’s Brian Evans and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.