Investing.com - Major markets across the Asia-Pacific are expected to open on a weaker note on Wednesday, following a widespread sell-off in New York overnight. The drop in the market is influenced by worries related to consumer spending, the potential US government shutdown, the outlook on interest rates, and stricter regulations on tech companies.
ASX 200 Futures indicated a fall of 22 points or 0.3% to 7048 as of 9:15am AEST, while KOSPI 200 Futures Nikkei 225 Futures were down 1.1% and 0.1% respectively.
Notably, several ASX-listed companies, including ASX Ltd (ASX:ASX), Coles Group Ltd (ASX:COL), Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN), and Woolworths Ltd (ASX:WOW) are scheduled to pay dividends to investors today.
Edward Moya from Oanda suggested that the market may not have reached the peak in interest rates, given the record house prices, surging oil prices, and a strengthening US dollar. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 info tech index fell 1.8% on Tuesday, extending its drop from a July peak to 11%.
Among currencies, Korean Won added 0.1%, the Australian dollar was flat at yearly lows, Thai Baht ticked 0.1% higher and the Japanese Yen was little changed at 12-month lows of 149.05.
On the crypto markets, Bitcoin dropped 0.5% on bitstamp.net.
The yield on the United States 10-Year note remained unchanged at 4.54%.
In other news, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) saw a considerable drop following a lawsuit by the US Federal Trade Commission in a long-anticipated antitrust case. Volatility on Wall Street also surged, rising more than 12%.
Among data releases, investors are looking toward BoJ meeting minutes and Australia's weighted mean CPI data, expected to be released at 11.30am AEST. TD Securities predicts that the inflation rate could rise to 5.4% year on year, marking the first re-acceleration in inflation in seven months.
In other significant news, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is in discussions with investors about a potential share sale that could value the startup at $US80 billion to $US90 billion. Furthermore, Birkenstock Holding is preparing to start its US initial public offering next week, potentially seeking a valuation of $US10 billion or more in the IPO.