Stock market today: Asian shares slide after tech, rising oil prices drag Wall St lower

Stocks fell Wednesday in Asia after a slide in technology stocks dragged Wall Street lower ahead of a key report on U.S. inflation.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.2% to 17,986,56 and the Shanghai Composite index sank 0.8% to 3,113.18.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index shed 0.2% to 32,706.52, while the Kospi in Seoul edged 0.1% lower, to 2,533.61. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.7% to 7,154.60.

Shares rose in India and Taiwan but fell in Southeast Asia.

Regional markets have been relatively quiet ahead of this week's release of Chinese and U.S. economic data.

Wednesday will bring the latest monthly update on prices that U.S. consumers are paying across the country. Economists expect it to show that prices were broadly 3.6% higher last month than a year earlier.

Thursday will bring reports about inflation at the wholesale level and sales at U.S. retailers. Strong spending by U.S. households has helped keep the U.S. economy humming, but it could also be encouraging companies to keep trying to raise their prices further.

Stocks have been see-sawing in recent weeks amid the revived uncertainty about whether the Federal Reserve is done with its avalanche of hikes to interest rates. The central bank has already pushed its main interest rate to the highest level in more than two decades, trying to get inflation back down to its target of 2%.

High interest rates work to undercut inflation by slowing anentire economy and knocking down prices for stocks and other investments.

Inflation has subsided from a peak of more than 9% last year, but a recent surge in oil prices has undermined that process and could compel the Federal Reserve to act again to tame inflation, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

“This scenario underscores the delicate balance between...