Asia markets mostly fall as investors await Fed meeting

Asia-Pacific markets on Tuesday tracked Wall Street declines overnight ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.

Investors also assessed the talks between U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House, aimed at stopping the Moscow-Kyiv conflict.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark ticked down 0.11% in choppy trade, after closing at a record high in its previous session, while the broader Topix index was flat.

Shares of investment firm SoftBank Group reversed course from nine consecutive sessions in positive territory and plunged as much as 5.69%, following news of its $2 billion investment in Intel. As part of the deal, SoftBank will pay $23 per share for Intel’s common stock, which closed at $23.66 on Monday.

In South Korea, the Kospi index fell 0.31% while the small-cap Kosdaq declined by 0.67%.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 was flat in early trade, after closing at its highest level since October 2024 in its previous session, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged down 0.12%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.74%.

U.S. equity futures were little changed in early Asia hours, at the start of a week filled with retail earnings and speeches from Fed officials.

Overnight stateside, all three key benchmarks ended the day near the flatline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 34.30 points, or 0.08%, to close at 44,911.82. The S&P 500 closed down 0.01% and ended at 6,449.15, while the Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.03% to settle at 21,629.77.

Shares of two of the so-called magnificent seven stocks Meta Platforms and Microsoft dropped about 2.3% and 0.6%, weighing on the broader market.

— CNBC’s Yun Li, Pia Singh and Alex Harring contributed to this report.