SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific looked set to dip at the Tuesday open as investors await the release of China’s latest benchmark lending rate.

Futures pointed to a lower open for Japanese stocks. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 29,400 while its counterpart in Osaka sat at 29,310. That compared against the Nikkei 225’s last close at 29,685.37.

Australian stocks also looked poised to slip, with the SPI futures contract at 7,018 as compared to the S&P/ASX 200’s last close at 7,065.60.

On the economic data front, China is set to its latest one-year loan prime rate (LPR) as well as the five-year LPR at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN. A majority of traders and analysts in a Reuters poll predict no change to either the one-year or five-year LPR.

Meanwhile, Covid cases continue to climb in India with 273,810 new daily infections registered on Monday.

Overnight on Wall Street, stocks declined from record levels as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 123.04 points to close at 34,077.63. The S&P 500 dipped 0.53% to finish the trading day stateside at 4,163.26 while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.98% to close at about 13,914.77.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 91.069 following an earlier drop from above 91.6.

The Japanese yen traded at 108.14 per dollar after strengthening from above 108.6 agaisnt the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7759, having climbed from below $0.774 yesterday.

Here’s a look at what’s on tap:

• China: One-year loan prime rate and five-year LPR at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN