Asian shares were on tenterhooks on Tuesday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's meeting that begins later in session for clues on the outlook for US monetary policy, while crude oil prices pulled back after their surge to 18-month highs.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 percent in early trade, while Japan's Nikkei stock index slid 0.5 percent as the dollar came off highs against the yen.
The Fed is widely expected to hike interest rates for the first time in 2016 at a two-day meeting, with markets pricing in a nearly 100 percent chance of a quarter percentage point increase to the Fed's target range of 0.25 to 0.50 percent.
