Asian shares and the dollar inched higher on Tuesday but caution reigned after Wall Street skidded as investors awaited this week’s U.S. Federal Reserve policy decision.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 percent, after Wall Street logged losses, with U.S. trading volume at its lowest in a month as markets awaited the Fed outcome.
Japan’s Nikkei stock index .N225 rose 0.6 percent as investors awaited the outcome of the Bank of Japan’s two-day policy meeting later this session, as well as BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s post-meeting speech.
A few investors were betting that Japan’s central bank would muster additional easing measures. But the majority believe that the BOJ will simply warn of heightening global risks while holding off on actual stimulus, holding its fire in case the Fed’s long-awaited rate hike, whenever it comes, triggers a fresh wave of market turmoil.
