South Korea inflation hits 42-month low

Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell on Tuesday as investors assess South Korea’s August inflation numbers, which eased to its lowest level on a year-on-year basis since March 2021.

The country’s consumer price index recorded a 2% rise year on year, coming down from July’s 2.6% and in line with expectations from a Reuters poll of economists.

On a month-on-month basis, the CPI rose 0.4%, slightly higher than the 0.3% expected from the Reuters poll.

South Korea’s Kospi was 0.61% lower at 2,664.63, and the small cap Kosdaq dipped 1.15% to 760.37.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was marginally down, closing at 38,686.3, but the Topix was 0.64% higher, finishing at 2,733.27.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was also down 0.08%, ending the day at 8,103.2.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 rose 0.26%, bouncing up from a seven-month low on Monday, closing at 3,273.49 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.18% as of its final hour of trade.

Markets in the U.S. were closed on Monday due to the Labor Day holiday. Futures tied to the three major indexes were down ahead of Tuesday’s session. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 57 points, or 0.14%. S&P 500 futures fell 0.12%, and Nasdaq-100 futures fell 0.26%,

—CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Sarah Min contributed to this report.