Asian stocks mostly lower ahead of Fed meeting; Nikkei down 0.26%

Investing.com - Most Asian stocks traded lower Tuesday as traders in the region eye the start of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting. In Asian trading Tuesday, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.26%. Japanese markets were closed Monday for a public holiday. Most market participants believe this will be the meeting where the Fed finally makes a formal tapering announcement. The most frequently cited number is that the Fed will trim USD10 billion from its USD85 billion-per-month bond-buying program. Additionally, most market observers believe there will be no material alteration to the current market environment even if the Fed does announce tapering. The logic there is that tapering has been speculated on for so long that it should, at this point, be effectively priced into financial markets. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.27% while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.90%. Financial services names were among the leaders in Hong Kong. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.1% to flirt with five-year highs. Earlier Tuesday, minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's most recent policy meeting were announced. "Members agreed that the bank should again neither close off the possibility of reducing rates further nor signal an imminent intention to reduce them," said RBA in the meeting notes. "Some further decline in the exchange rate would be helpful." RBA has pared rates by 225 basis points since late 2011. "Lending rates had declined to historically low levels as a result, which, together with the lower -- though still high -- exchange rate, were continuing to provide a substantial degree of policy stimulus to the economy," according to the minutes. "This was most evident in the housing market, with the lags in the effect of policy meaning that earlier actions were still likely to take some time to have their full effect on demand more generally." New Zealand's NZSE 50 fell 0.08% while South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.54%. Singapore's Straits Times Index was one of the regional standouts with a gain of 0.15%. S&P 500 futures lost 0.12% a day after the benchmark U.S. index climbed 0.57%.
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