Asia markets fall, Nikkei dips as Japan wholesale inflation in December was flat

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific markets fell on Tuesday, with Japanese stocks also halting their record-breaking rally since the start of the year.

The Nikkei fell 0.72% in early trading after Japan's corporate goods price index came in flat year-on-year, compared with a 0.30% fall expected by economists in a Reuters poll. The CGPI also climbed 0.30% month on month in December, compared to expectations it will remain flat.

The broad-based Topix dropped 0.80%.

The country's benchmark Nikkei 225 has hit key milestones of 34,000, 35,000 and 36,000 — levels the index has not seen since 1990.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 is on pace for a third straight day of losses, falling 1.11%.

South Korea's Kospi declined 1.08%, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 1.09%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 0.66%, while the mainland Chinese CSI 300 index was down 0.33%.

U.S. markets were closed Monday due to the Martin Luther King holiday, but futures indicate that the three main indexes were likely to fall when markets resume trading.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.13%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures were each 0.15% lower.

Investors are looking ahead to U.S. December retail sales data out Wednesday, which could fuel recessionary fears and concerns about economic growth if consumer spending shows signs of cooling down.

Economists polled by FactSet anticipate an increase of 0.2% for the month, slightly under the 0.3% increase in November.

— CNBC's Pia Singh contributed to this report

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 hit four-week lows Tuesday, dragged by commodity stocks as underlying prices slipped. The index also led losses in the region, falling 1.2%, and hitting its lowest level