Asian shares edged slightly lower on Wednesday as investors looked to the Federal Reserve policy decision and any clues it might give on future rate hikes, shifting focus away from the historic U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore.
MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> dipped 0.15 percent in early trade, giving up the slim gains they made following Tuesday`s meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Japan`s Nikkei <.n225> eked out gains of 0.10 percent.
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On Wall Street, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 0.17 percent, led by a continued rally in technology shares. The Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> added 0.57 percent, to finish at record low of 7,703.
"The agreement at the summit lacked details. There was no clear roadmap to denuclearisation. So that wasn`t something that makes markets 100 percent risk-on," said Shuji Shirota, head of macro economic strategy group at HSBC Securities in Japan.
With the U.S.-North Korea summit out of the way, market focus is quickly shifting to the Fed`s two-day policy meeting ending on Wednesday.
The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates for second time this year after a move in March, but the bigger question for investors is the outlook of the Fed`s future monetary tightening amid an ongoing economic expansion.
"With a rate hike almost fully priced in, the focus is on how many times the Fed will raise rates this year and next and how much beyond the levels it considers as neutral to the economy, or what they call the longer-run rates," said HSBC`s Shirota.
Projections from the Fed`s March meeting suggest a benchmark rate of 2.1 percent at end of 2018, based on the median forecast of central bank policymakers, which would mean three rate hikes in total this year.
In the currency market, the dollar was relatively well bid ahead of the Fed`s meeting.
The euro traded at $1.1744
The dollar stood at 110.50 44 yen
Some emerging market currencies stayed under pressure on worries higher U.S. rates could prompt fund outflows from emerging markets to the United States.
The Mexican peso
Oil prices dipped after data from the American Petroleum Institute showed a surprise build of 833,000 barrels in U.S. crude stockpiles. Analysts had expected a decline of 2.7 million barrels.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures
Elsewhere, bitcoin fell to a 2-1/2-month low of $6,461 at Bitstamp exchange
(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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