Asian markets trend lower, tracking Wall St losses

Markets in Asia are mostly lower after a lackluster day of trading on Wall Street.

Mixed signals on the progress of China-US trade talks also revived caution in Chinese markets.

The Shanghai Composite lost 1 per cent to 3,059.17 in early trading Wednesday and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.5 per cent to 29,318.53. Japan's Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1 per cent higher to 21,577.82, while the S&P ASX 200 gave up 0.1 per cent to 6,177.50. South Korea's Kospi sank 1.1 per cent to 2,154.23.

Shares were higher in Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia but fell in Singapore.

Investors are looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy update due later Wednesday.

The central bank has signalled that it will be "patient" in raising interest rates.

"Against the backdrop of heightened concerns over US-China trade and ahead of the Fed meeting, Asia markets may well trade cautiously once again," Jingyi Pan of IG said in a commentary.

She added that "the broad sense is that regional markets will be attuned toward the Fed meeting."