India WPI inflation, Japan shunto

Asia-Pacific markets were largely range-bound on Thursday after Wall Street’s tech-fueled rally dissipated, with investors focused on Japan’s spring wage negotiations and India’s wholesale inflation data.

Japan’s wage negotiations wrapped up on Wednesday, with the first overall estimate due out on Friday. Reports from local outlets have indicated that large firms offered “major” wage hikes.

Strong wage increases could clear the way for the Bank of Japan to start unwinding its ultra easy monetary policy, with the central bank due to meet next Monday and Tuesday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.3% following these reports, as markets price in the possibility of the BOJ tightening policy. The broad-based Topix was trading close to the flatline.

South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.46%, while the Kosdaq index slipped 0.71%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.28%, resuming its climb after snapping a three-day winning streak on Wednesday, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was up 0.3%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.1% lower.

Overnight in the U.S., major indexes ended mixed with tech giants Nvidia falling 1.1%, Meta slipping 0.8% and Apple dropping 1.2%, after February U.S. inflation data came in nearly in line with expectations.

“I think it was a relief to see the [headline] CPI number yesterday, but people are still cautious about the underlying data,” said Ayako Yoshioka, senior portfolio manager at Wealth Enhancement Group. “In the short-term, the macro narrative around the Federal Reserve is going to be the front and center issue.”

The S&P500 closed 0.19% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.54%. In contrast, The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1%.

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