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 consumer confidence 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 1.3% after the CPI announcement, closing at 7,665.6.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.77% to 38,556.87, while the broad-based Topix dropped 0.97% to end at 2,741.62. Both indexes reversed course from the open to trade lower.

South Korea's Kospi fell 1.67% and closed at 2,677.3, dragged by a 3.09% loss in heavyweight Samsung Electronics as one of its unions announced a strike. The small-cap Kosdaq was 1.48% lower.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.67%, leading losses in Asia, while mainland China's CSI 300 rose 0.12% to close at 3,613.52, the only major Asian benchmark in positive territory.

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.

Japan consumer confidence falls in May, with most households expecting higher prices

Japan's consumer confidence index fell to 36.2 in May, down from 38.3 in April, extending the fall from February and hitting its lowest level since November.

Most survey respondents said they expect prices to go up in the next 12 months, with 93.5% of households responding as such. This was 0.5 percentage points higher than the previous month.

On the other hand, 2.6% of respondents expected prices to largely stay the same, while 1.8% said that prices will go down in the next 12 months.

— Lim Hui Jie

Adani, One 97 Communications deny report that claimed Adani is looking to buy a stake in Paytm

Both Adani Group and Paytm's parent company, One 97 Communications, denied a local media report that Adani is looking to buy a stake in the Indian fintech firm.  

The Times of India reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Gautam Adani was looking to buy a stake in Paytm. The report also said Paytm founder and chief executive officer, Vijay Shekar Sharma, also met at Adani's office in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

One 97 Communications called the report "speculative" and said it is not engaged in any discussions on the matter.

"We are denying any such discussions," an Adani spokesperson told CNBC, regarding talks with Paytm.

Shares of One 97 Communications jumped nearly 5% in early trading. Adani Enterprises shares edged 0.2% higher.

— Shreyashi Sanyal, Naman Tandon

Samsung union to stage first strike in company's history; shares slip 1%

A union at Samsung Electronics announced it will take strike action on June 7, which would be the first time in the company's history that workers have elected to stop work.

The National Samsung Electronics Union, known as Jeonsamno in South Korea, accounts for about 28,000 workers, or more than a fifth of the electronics giant's workforce.

The strike comes amid stalled wage negotiations between the union and the South Korean tech giant, which have been ongoing since January.

Shares of Samsung fell 1.16% on Wednesday.

— Lim Hui Jie

Australian consumer inflation rises more than expected

Official data showed Australia's consumer prices in April rose 3.6% year on year, more than expectations.

The reading for the weighted consumer price index in April was greater than the 3.4% gain forecast in a Reuters poll. It was also higher than the 3.5% increase in CPI reported for March.

"Inflation has been relatively stable over the past five months, although this is the second month in a row where annual inflation has had a small increase," said Michelle Marquardt, head of prices statistics at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The data showed increases in prices for housing, food and non-alcoholic beverages, alcohol and tobacco and transport as the most significant contributors to the April reading.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Singtel shares halted temporarily, responds to reports it's in talks with KKR

Shares of Singtel were temporarily halted early Wednesday, before trading resumed.

The Singapore telco released a statement addressing a report by Reuters that claimed Singtel was teaming up with investment firm KKR to buy a minority stake in one of Asia's largest data center providers.

In a filing to the Singapore Exchange, Singtel said it "regularly explores and reviews business opportunities, projects and proposals relating to its business and enters into discussions with various parties from time to time."

Singtel pointed out that "there is no certainty that any transaction will arise from these discussions or that any definitive or binding agreement will be entered into pursuant to these discussions."

The Reuters article, citing sources, said the Singtel-KKR consortium has emerged as the frontrunner to buy a 20% minority stake worth $1 billion in STT Telemedia Global Data Centres.

One source said the consortium is competing with New York-headquartered alternative investment firm Stonepeak for the stake, and that a deal could be sealed or announced in early June, the first source added.

— Lim Hui Jie

10-year Japanese government bond yields hit highest level in 13 years

The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond hit its highest levels in about 13 years, touching a high of 1.097%.

The last time the 10-year yield hit this level was back in 2011, before the Bank of Japan started its yield curve control policy in 2016.

Yields of 10-year JGBs have been on the uptrend ever since the BOJ dismantled its YCC policy in March, which had capped the upper limit of the bond yield at "around 1%."

— Lim Hui Jie

CNBC Pro: Morgan Stanley names global stocks to ride the Nvidia boom — and gives 4 over 50% upside

Investor darling Nvidia is dominating headlines once again after its earnings last week surpassed expectations on the back of the artificial intelligence boom.

Morgan Stanley notes that the reaction to Nvidia's first quarter results is "very telling on how much buying power still exists in the market."

"We are far from topping out on AI. This should be enough to sustain investor confidence in AI supply chain stocks in Asia," the investment bank's analysts wrote in a May 22 research note.

They named a number of overweight-rated stocks to play their favorite AI themes, including four with over 50% upside potential.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Amala Balakrishner

CNBC Pro: Can Nvidia's astronomical growth last? Outperforming long-time growth investor weighs in

For many investors, the million-dollar question is how far Nvidia can go or whether it can sustain its dramatic growth.

Nick Griffin, chief investment officer at Munro Partners, has invested in Nvidia since 2019 – but even he is taken aback by the stock's astronomical run so far.

"I have never seen anything like this in terms of the dramatic earnings acceleration it's displaying … it's never happened before to a company of this size, and it's unprecedented," he said Tuesday.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

The S&P 500 appears fairly valued, RBC Capital Markets says

It may be time to take a more neutral stance now that stocks have reached record highs, according to RBC Capital Markets. In fact, the Wall Street firm worries the bias for equities may be to the downside if the currently held view on markets and the economy proves overly optimistic.

"Our S&P 500 valuation model continues to suggest that the broader US equity market is fairly valued, with some modest downside risk if current inflation, interest rate, and Fed assumptions end up being too rosy," Lori Calvasina wrote Tuesday.

"For a material move higher in the market by year end to be justified on the math, we think investors will need to start focusing on the outlook for 2025, where visibility still seems a bit limited," Calvasina added.

— Sarah Min

Raging supercore inflation means investors can't rule out rate hikes this year, says chief economist

Although goods inflation has come down in recent times, Torsten Slok believes investors need to be more wary of resilient supercore inflation.

The chief economist of Apollo Global Management noted that supercore inflation, which excludes food, energy and housing prices, has started to reaccelerate due to tailwinds in the service sector. This uptick in inflation, combined with a strong housing outlook, could provide a damper for investors expecting the Federal Reserve to cut rates this year.

"Housing is maybe a little bit more challenging to control for the Fed, but what they can control is broader consumption. That is still quite strong, and that is the challenge for the Fed as we look ahead," he told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Tuesday.

While Slok does not outright expect rate hikes this year, he agreed with Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari's assessment that investors could not necessarily rule them out.

— Lisa Kailai Han

'Many more months' of positive data needed before rate cuts, Fed's Kashkari says

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari told CNBC on Tuesday he is still not ready to cut interest rates.

"Many more months of positive inflation data, I think, to give me confidence that it's appropriate to dial back," he said. He also noted the central bank could raise rates if inflation does not continue to ease. "I don't think we should rule anything out at this point."

— Fred Imbert