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Equity
Shares in Asia slipped in Tuesday morning trade, ahead of a closely watched meeting by the U.S. Federal Reserve set to kick off later in the day stateside.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.59 percent . The Topix index also declined 0.64 percent. Over in South Korea, the Kospi shed 0.18 percent.
Meanwhile, Australia’s ASX 200 was 0.2 percent lower as the sectors mostly declined.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average capped a four-session winning streak as it closed 65.23 points higher at 25,914.10. The S&P 500 finished its trading day 0.4 percent higher at 2,832.94, while the Nasdaq Composite also added 0.3 percent to close at 7,714.48.
Fed meeting on Tuesday
The moves came ahead of a two-day monetary policy meeting by the Fed, set to begin on Tuesday. Market expectations for a rate hike are at zero. However, investors will look for clues about the central bank’s economic outlook. The Fed had signaled it will be “patient” in raising rates at its previous meeting this year.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, stood at 96.513 after touching highs around 96.6 yesterday.
The Japanese yen traded at 111.31 against the dollar after seeing lows around 111.6 in the previous session. The Australian dollar fell to $0.7096 after touching a two-week high above $0.711 yesterday, when it was boosted by a weaker dollar and a rise in iron ore prices, among other factors.
Oil prices continued rising this week, supported by the prospect of prolonged OPEC-led supply curbs. Prices declined slightly in the morning of Asian trading hours, with the international benchmark Brent crude futures contract slipping 0.18 percent to $67.42 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also shed 0.17 percent to $58.99 per barrel.
