The Shanghai Composite index slid 0.4 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.2 per cent. — Reuters picTOKYO, March 17 — Asian stocks fell today, tracking Wall Street, as investors waited to see if the US Federal Reserve will signal a faster path toward policy normalisation than previously expected.An index of regional equities excluding Japan sank 0.3 per cent, led by declines in South Korea’s Kospi and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200.Japan’s Nikkei 225 bucked the trend to add 0.
“We expect Powell to note the FOMC has the tools to intervene if the bond market becomes disorderly or constrains the economic recovery,” analysts of Commonwealth Bank of Australia wrote. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields continued to consolidate around 1.6 per cent, standing at 1.6197 per cent today in Asia. They reached 1.6420 per cent on Friday for the first time since February of last year.