Asia-Pacific markets set to fall as tariff worries dent investor sentiment

Asia-Pacific markets were set to fall Monday, tracking U.S. stocks futures that were lower ahead of key economic data, with the likelihood of more tariffs escalating trade tensions also denting investor sentiment.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that he was planning to announce a blanket 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports on Monday, according to a Bloomberg report.

Over in Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 is set to open lower, with the futures contract in Chicago at 38,595 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 38,550, against the index's last close of 38,787.02.

The country is slated to release its bank lending figures for January, among other data.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 started the day down 0.66%.

The three key U.S. indexes fell Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump's said he was planning reciprocal tariffs on trading partners. Markets were further pressured by the release of consumer sentiment and jobs data which pointed to a pickup in inflation and spiked the 10-year Treasury yield above 4.5% at its session high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 444.23 points, or 0.99%, to close at 44,303.40. The S&P 500 declined 0.95% to 6,025.99, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.36% to end at 19,523.40. Friday's losses left the major averages in negative territory on the week.

— CNBC's Sean Conlon and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.