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Hong Kong - Asian markets were mixed on Tuesday, with Wall Street providing a soft lead, as traders await a US Federal Reserve policy meeting for an idea about its plans for its stimulus programme.
The dollar also moved in a tight range against the yen and euro as investors hold off making any big bets before the bank's board decision.
Tokyo eased 0.20% and Sydney shed 0.22% while Hong Kong added 0.54%. Shanghai was up 0.71% and Seoul put on 0.17%.
While analysts widely expect the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to keep its $85bn a month stimulus in place, they will be poring over Wednesday's announcement for clues as to when it will start winding down.
The bank had been expected to begin tapering by the end of this year but a weak set of data - including soft jobs growth - and this month's two-week government shutdown has made that highly unlikely.
Most traders expect a reduction in bond-buying to begin early next year.
The likelihood of the wind-down being put off increased on Monday, with disappointing US pending home sales numbers.
Wall Street ended broadly flat ahead of the policy meeting, with the Dow and Nasdaq virtually unchanged but the S&P 500 tacked on 0.13% to hit a new all-time high.
In currency trading the dollar, which has been weighed by expectations the stimulus would stay in place for now, held its own in early Tokyo trade.
It bought ¥97.62 against ¥97.66 in New York Monday, while the euro fetched $1.3788 and ¥134.56 compared with $1.3787 and ¥134.67.
The Fed's bond-buying scheme floods financial markets with dollars to keep interest rates down, which in turn keeps a lid on demand for the unit.
On oil markets New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in December, was down 32 cents at $98.36, while Brent North Sea crude for December shed 47c to $109.14.
Gold rose to $1 353.30 at 02:15 GMT compared with $1 350.24 on Monday.
