Investing.com - Shares in Asia were mixed with attention now on the Federal Reserve and its views on monetary policy at the end of its latest two-day meeting on Wednesday.
The Nikkei 225 ticked up 0.43%, while the S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.13% and the Shanghai Composite fell 0.60%.
In Australia, consumer prices for the third quarter rose 0.5%, against a gain of 0.6% expected quarter-on-quarter and an annual pace of 1.5%, compared to 1.7% seen.
In Japan, retail sales fell an unexpected 0.2% as retail fuel sales slumped, against a gain of 0.4% seen year-on-year for September for the first year-on-year drop in six months.
Investors were looking ahead to Wednesday’s monetary policy announcement by the Fed for fresh indications on the timing of an initial rate hike.
Overnight, U.S. stocks fell mildly on Tuesday amid weakness in the energy stocks and a slew of disappointing third quarter results, ahead of the release of Apple's (O:O:AAPL) quarterly earnings after the close of trading.
After reaching fresh two-month highs earlier last week, the three major indices still remain on track for one of their strongest months of the year. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ Composite Index inched down in spite of a rally among Health Care stocks. The Dow lost 41.62 or 0.24% to 17,581.43, while the NASDAQ fell 4.55 or 0.09% to close Tuesday's session at 5,030.15.
The S&P 500 Composite index, meanwhile, dipped 5.29 or 0.26% to 2,065.89, as nine of 10 sectors closed in the red. Stocks in the Energy, Industrials and Telecommunications industries lagged, each falling more than 1% on the session. Health Care stocks ended Tuesday's session as the only sector in the green, closing up by 13.44 points or 1.83%.
Traders also await the release of the Federal Open Market Committee's October monetary policy statement on Wednesday after the completion of a two-day meeting. Although the FOMC has hinted that it will likely hold short-term interest rates at its current near-zero level at the meeting, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen has still not ruled out a rate hike. The CME Group's (O:O:CME) Fed Watch forecasts a 5% chance of a rate hike in October, versus a 30% probability of one at the FOMC's meeting on Dec. 15-16.