Asian shares slip ahead of Fed meeting

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Kimberly Clark Corp

KMB.N

$64.24

-1.81-2.74%

04/25/2011

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By Saikat Chatterjee

HONG KONG | Mon Apr 25, 2011 9:27pm EDT

(Reuters) - Asian stock markets inched lower on profit taking on Tuesday while the euro dipped before the this week's Federal Reserve meeting where investors will look for indicators on its plans to exit the ultra-easy monetary policy.

Commodity prices .CRB too retreated after silver fell more than 1 percent when it failed to break key technical resistance levels and analysts said the sell-off spilled over into other commodities including oil. <GOL/>

Japan's Nikkei .N225 fell 1 percent while South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 was down 0.3 percent. Shares elsewhere in Asia .MIAPJ0000PUS also edged lower.

"There are more earnings coming up, and the market is also carefully awaiting the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting this week," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager at SMBC Nikko Securities.

"If the Nikkei were to move in either direction, it would be after the FOMC meeting," Nishi said.

The greenback came under a bit of selling pressure versus the yen in early trade but losses were limited on expected dollar demand from Japanese asset management firms as a number of investment trusts or toushin are due to be launched on Tuesday.

Trade was volatile as investors were reluctant to wager big bets before the April 26-27 Federal Open Market Committee meeting. <FED/AHEAD>

U.S. crude futures fell more than $1 early on Tuesday, snapping three days of gains. Saudi Aramco chief executive Khalid al-Falih said on Tuesday key producer Saudi Arabia was not comfortable with current oil prices. <O/R>

In U.S. markets, shares ended lower as the threat of rising commodity prices prompted companies such as Kimberly-Clark (KMB.N) cut the low end of its full-year outlook because of rising input costs. <ID:N25143359>

U.S. Treasuries were firm on hopes the Fed will leave interest rates near zero for the rest of the year with the 10-year U.S. yield down more than 20 basis points from the month's highs at 3.36 percent.

(Additional reporting by Haruya Ida in TOKYO and Umesh Desai; Editing by Ramya Venugopal)