* Investors look for signs of faster policy normalization
* Fed likely to produce more rosy forecasts, but no policy shift expected
* BOE, BOJ policy decisions must also be available this week
TOKYO / NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) – Asian stocks fell on Wednesday, followed by Wall Street, while investors waited to see if the US Federal Reserve would point a faster path to policy normalization than previously expected .
The Federal Reserve Committee of the US Federal Reserve (FOMC) will conclude a two-day meeting later in the day.
An index of local equities excluding Japan sank 0.3%, led by declines in South Korea’s Kospi and Australia’s S & P / ASX 200.
The Shanghai Composite Index decreased by 0.4% and Hang Seng in Hong Kong by 0.2%.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 tended to add 0.1%, but the broader Topix index was flat to slightly lower.
Global markets have been swayed by a deviation in the treasury in recent weeks, which has seen benchmark returns rise to a high of more than a year as bond investors bet accelerated COVID-19 vaccinations and massive fiscal stimulus faster if expected growth would stimulate and inflation in the world’s largest economy.
The volatility has led to speculation that the Fed may be forced to make a technical adjustment to the levers that control its interest rate, but few expect the central bank to act at this meeting, even as it announces more rosy growth prospects. .
“We expect (Chairman Jerome) Powell to note that the FOMC has the tools to intervene if the bond market becomes disorderly or restricts economic recovery,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia analysts wrote.
“But we expect Powell to push back against the policy discussion because of the large amount of labor market.”
“US yields and the dollar could rise if the FOMC statement and the Powell statement are not considered dull enough.”
Treasury yields for ten years continued to consolidate 1.6% and were 1.6197% in Asia on Wednesday. They reached 1.6420% on Friday for the first time since February last year.
An index that tracks the dollar against six major peers held around 91.90 after its pullback from a three-month high of 92.506 hit last week.
The caution of the foreign exchange market could stretch all week, with the Bank of England announcing its policy decision on Thursday, and the Bank of Japan will draw up a policy review on Friday in which it could phase out a numerical target for buying assets.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.39% to 32.825.95 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.16% to 3,962.71. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.09% to 13,471.57.
E-mini futures contracts for the S&P 500 fell 0.04% on Wednesday.
Gold prices have risen at their highest point in more than two weeks with a view to higher inflation.
Spot gold rose 0.2% to $ 1,734.81 an ounce.
Oil prices were lower amid concerns over demand after Germany, France and other European countries suspended use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which could limit the strength of the region’s economic recovery.
Brent crude futures slipped 12 cents to $ 68.27 a barrel and the US crude to 3 cents to $ 64.77 a barrel.
Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Edited by Kim Coghill