Asian markets drift lower as US inflation data looms

Stocks extended losses in Asia on Wednesday as traders awaited the release of US inflation data, with sentiment clouded by a range of issues including the debt ceiling standoff in Washington and banking sector uncertainty.

After last week’s Federal Reserve interest rate hike and a forecast-beating jobs report, focus is lasered on the consumer price index reading later in the day, which will play a key decision-making role in the US central bank’s June policy meeting.