Following Wall Street's overnight gains, the majority of Asian markets saw a rise on Wednesday as expectations that the Federal Reserve will start lowering rates in September increased due to a weaker producer inflation figure.

Yet, Chinese equities underperformed relative to their peers as investors' attention shifted to the nation's largest companies' impending earnings, which are scheduled to be released in the coming days.

Wall Street provided a good lead-in for regional markets, as U.S. stock indices recovered all of last week's losses on upbeat PPI data.

In Asian trading, U.S. stock index futures were flat as investors looked to the nation's impending consumer price inflation data for further indications of a September rate reduction.

However, the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.5% but the TOPIX gained 0.4% in Japan, as the country's market bounce seemed to be fading.

Data released earlier this week indicated that producer inflation in Japan increased in July as anticipated, escalating worries that a prolonged surge in inflation may provide the Bank of Japan with greater leeway to raise interest rates.

This week's main focus will be on the second quarter's gross domestic product statistics, which is anticipated on Thursday. The Japanese economy shrunk far less than anticipated in the first quarter.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 0.2%, while China's Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indices dropped 0.5% and 0.3%, respectively.

In the upcoming days, investors will be waiting for a number of significant earnings reports from some of the largest companies in China.

On Wednesday, internet behemoths Tencent and JD.com are scheduled to release their June quarter financial results.

On Thursday, Lenovo, CK Hutchison, and Alibaba are scheduled to report. The main focus will be on whether Chinese businesses were able to withstand a downturn in the regional economy.

The key focus today will be on the US CPI data due later today at 13:30 GMT.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)