Asian stocks decline, China benchmark down 0.37%

Asian stocks declined on Tuesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision on Wednesday, where the U.S. central bank is broadly expected to deliver a 25 basis-point rate cut despite existing divisions with the committee.

Traders remain anxious about the Federal Reserve's future easing pace, given conflicting trends of a cooling job market and sticky inflation, as well as gaps in the data from the government shutdown.

The U.S. dollar was under pressure in Asian trade and gold traded below $4,200 per ounce while oil prices were steady after slipping 2 percent in the previous two sessions.

China's Shanghai Composite index ended down 0.37 percent at 3,909.52 after the country's top decision-making body, the Politburo, announced plans to strengthen domestic demand for 2026 with "more proactive fiscal policy" and "appropriately loose monetary policy".

 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 1.29 percent to 25,434.23, dragged down by tech stocks.

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