SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific declined Tuesday morning as investors look ahead to the release of monetary policy meeting minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped 0.19% in early trade while the Topix index hovered mildly higher. In South Korea, the Kospi dipped 0.25%.

Shares in Australia also fell as the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.53%. Australia’s central bank is set to release minutes from its recent monetary policy meeting at 8:30 a.m. HK/SIN on Tuesday.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.16% lower.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 12.86 points to 36,087.45 while the S&P 500 was near flat at 4,682.80. The Nasdaq Composite dipped fractionally to 15,853.85.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 95.407 after recent rising from below 95.2.

The Japanese yen traded at 114.17 per dollar, weaker than levels below 113.9 seen against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7347 following its bounce from below $0.73 seen late last week.