Asia markets mostly lower after investors assess Australia inflation data

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

Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly lower on Wednesday as investors assessed Australia's inflation numbers for April and awaited data from Japan.

Australia's weighted consumer price index rose 3.6% year-on-year in April, greater than the 3.4% gain forecast in a Reuters poll. The reading was also higher than the 3.5% reported for March.

In a preview note last week, analysts from ING said: "One more bad inflation report from Australia, and we will consider removing the final cut we have pencilled in by the [Reserve Bank of Australia] in the fourth quarter of this year. Two more, and we may consider adding a rate hike."

The Australian S&P/ASX 200 fell nearly 1% after the CPI announcement.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.41%, while the broad-based Topix dropped 0.48%. Both indexes reversed course from the open to trade lower.

South Korea's Kospi fell 0.9% and the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.75% lower.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.35%, while mainland China's CSI 300 rose 0.35%.

Overnight in the U.S., the Nasdaq Composite hit another record high to surpass 17,000, powered by a 7% gain in tech darling Nvidia.

The S&P 500 inched up just 0.02%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.55%.

While Nvidia's rally disguised troubles in the broader market, the blue-chip Dow was weighed down by a drop in Merck and other health-care stocks.

Meanwhile, more than 350 stocks in the broad S&P 500 were negative in the session. The index's health-care, industrials and financials sectors all finished more than 1% in the red.

— CNBC's Brian Evans and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.

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