Asian Shares Mixed As Investors Await Fed Verdict

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks traded mixed on Tuesday in thin trade, with markets in mainland China and South Korea closed for public holidays.

A two-day policy meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve gets underway later today, with investors increasingly pricing in a half-point cut to interest rates.

Fed funds futures traders currently price in a 62 percent probability of a 50 basis-point cut and a 38 percent probability of a 25 basis-point cut, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

The U.S. retail sales data for August due later in the day may weigh on the Fed's interest-rate decision.

The dollar was pinned down in Asian trading on rate cut bets and gold was marginally higher, while oil extended overnight gains due to concerns surrounding Hurricane Francine's impact on U.S. Gulf of Mexico output.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up over 1 percent. Japan's Nikkei average fell 1.5 percent as tech stocks tracked their U.S. peers lower and the dollar languished near its lowest level in over a year against the yen, weighed down by a drop in U.S. Treasury yields.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2 percent to hit a new high while New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NX-50 index was down 0.4 percent.

U.S. stocks ended mixed overnight as tech stocks dragged and the dollar fell ahead of a slew of central bank meetings due later in the week.

In economic news, a survey showed manufacturing activity expanded in the New York region for the first time in almost a year.

The Dow rose 0.6 percent to a record high close and the S&P 500 inched up 0.1 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped half a percent.

European stocks ended mostly lower on Monday to snap a three-day winning streak amid signs that an economic slowdown in China is deepening.

The pan European STOXX 600 slipped 0.2 percent. The German DAX shed 0.4 percent and France's CAC 40 eased 0.2 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended flat with a positive bias.