Asian stocks have begun the day on the back foot after declines on Wall Street overnight following comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that gave little indication about the future path of interest rates.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 0.2 per cent in early trade, after US stocks ended the previous session lower. The S&P 500 was down 0.6 per cent, marking its biggest one-day loss in three weeks.

Australian shares led declines on Wednesday in early Asian trading down 0.7 per cent ahead of the release of CPI data later today, while Japan's Nikkei stock index slid 0.4 per cent. US stock futures were flat.

The greenback stabilised but remained on the defensive after two consecutive days of decline, with the US dollar index last up 0.1 per cent a

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