Japan's Nikkei 225 drops nearly 3% following Wall Street losses

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific slipped in Tuesday morning trade following overnight losses on Wall Street, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite falling more than 2%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped nearly 3%, as shares of Fast Retailing fell 6.94%.

South Korea's Kospi shed 2.38%.

Shares in Australia also slipped, with the S&P/ASX 200 down 0.89%. The Reserve Bank of Australia is set to announce its interest rate decision at around 11:30 a.m. HK/SIN on Tuesday.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.73% lower.

Markets in mainland China remain closed on Tuesday for the holidays.

Overnight stateside, the S&P 500 dropped 1.3% to 4,300.46 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 323.54 points to 34,002.92. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 2.14% to around 14,255.49.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 93.879 following a recent decline from above 94.

The Japanese yen traded at 110.96 per dollar, stronger than levels above 111.1 seen against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.727, largely holding on to gains after its rise from below $0.724 late last week.

Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down fractionally to $81.23 per barrel. U.S. crude futures shed 0.13% to $77.52 per barrel.