Asian equity indices are trading mostly in the red terrain in early deals on Tuesday, tracking the weak cues overnight from Wall Street. Investors were treading cautiously ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting that starts later in the day. It remains unlikely that the Fed will hike interest rates before July, but markets are looking for some clarity on the timing of tightening when the Fed releases its statement on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Japanese Nikkei remained the lone gainer, up by around half a percent on back of weaker yen. On the economic front, the total value of retail sales in Japan tumbled 9.7 percent on year in March, coming in at 12.396 trillion yen. That missed forecasts for a decline of 7.5 percent, following the 1.7 percent contraction in February.
Jakarta Composite dropped 59.79 points or 1.14% to 5,185.66, Hang Seng slipped 26.28 points or 0.09% to 28,407.31, Taiwan Weighted decreased 20.3 points or 0.2% to 9,952.82, Straits Times declined 18.84 points or 0.54% to 3,497.01, Shanghai Composite shed 14.64 points or 0.32% to 4,512.76, KOSPI Index dipped 7.72 points or 0.36% to 2,149.82 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down by 5.18 points or 0.28% to 1,854.40. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 was up by 99.9 points or 0.5% to 20,083.22.