Asian shares mixed ahead of Fed with Nikkei down after trade data

Investing.com - Shares in Tokyo fell on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's latest view on interest rates and an apparent stalemate in Greek debt talks though other Asian markets were mixed.

The Nikkei 225 fell 0.32% after the break, while the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.04%, the Hang Seng index gained 0.34%, while the Shanghai Composite eased 1.26%.

In Europe, there were few developments in the Greek Debt negotiations ahead of Thursday's meeting of the euro zone finance ministers in Luxembourg. Greece is running out of time to strike a deal before the remainder of its €240 billion bailout expires on June 30.

Overnight, U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Oil & Gas and Telecoms sectors led shares higher.

At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.64%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.57%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.51%.

Investors await potential market-moving comments from Janet Yellen on the timing of an interest rate hike from the Federal Open Market Committee at the conclusion of its two-day June meeting on Wednesday.

While the Fed has indicated that it could raise interest rates following the end of Wednesday's meeting, it is more likely that the U.S. Central Bank will wait until September before lifting rates for the first time in nearly a decade.

The Fed would like to see significant improvements in wage and GDP growth, along with indications that inflation is moving toward its target goal of 2% before it raises its benchmark Fed Funds Rate above its current level of zero to 0.25%. Since its last meeting, the U.S. economy added 280,000 jobs in May while hourly wages rose by 0.3%. Retail sales, meanwhile, a closely watched metric, surged by 1.2% last month, fueled by increases in motor vehicle and gas sales.

Close observers of the Fed will likely focus intently on its Federal Funds Rate Target for clues on how gradually it plans to hike rates after initial liftoff. Previously, the Federal Reserve set a target of between 0.5% and 1.0% for December, which it expects will increase to 1.5 and 2.0% by December, 2016. A year later, the Fed projects its benchmark rate will exceed 3.0%.

When the Fed released the minutes from its April meeting last month, it expressed concern that interest rates could spike after initial lift-off, citing the possibility of an increased role in high frequency trading, decreases in inventories held by broker-dealers and the potential for higher assets in bond funds.

In a monthly report release on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce said the number of building permits for future home construction surged nearly 12% to an eight-year high at 1.28 million units. Although monthly housing starts dipped 11.1% to 1.04 million units, the Commerce Department upwardly revised an already robust figure from April to 1.17 million units.