The development in the initial Wednesday trading on leading Asian stock exchanges pointed mostly downwards, in a restless wait for inflation figures and interest rate decisions in the USA.
The Tokyo stock exchange was down 0.8 per cent when investors took lunch, the broader Topix index pointing to a minus 0.9 per cent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng was simultaneously down 1.1 per cent, while the Shanghai composite index hovered around zero.
There is tense anticipation on the world's stock exchanges ahead of the US Federal Reserve's next interest rate decision this evening, Swedish time. New American inflation figures for May are also being published this afternoon.
