Investing.com - Asian shares were narrowly mixed on Wednesday as the Fed gets set to hike interest rates with the market more focused on forward guidance from the U.S. central bank, known as the Fed "dot-plot."
At stake is whether the Fed signal two rate hikes next year, or the possibility of more, with many betting on continued caution by Fed Chair Janet Yellen even as President-elect Donald Trump looks set on tax cut and spending binge.
The Shanghai Composite edged up just in the green by 0.02%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.58%. The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.81%.
The yuan fell slightly against the dollar after the People's Bank of China set a weaker fixing at 6.9028 ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting fully expected to lead to a rate hike.
Earlier, the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey showed that an uptick in the sentiment of Japan's major manufacturers, with the headline index at plus-10 in the fourth-quarter, but expected to fall to plus-8 over the next three months. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.06%.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Technology, Oil & Gas and Utilities sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.58% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.65%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.95%.