Asian shares were mostly lower Wednesday as investors awaited developments on the trade friction between the US and China at the Group of 20 meeting of major economies in Japan later in the week.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.5 per cent to 21,088.32 in early trading, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 inched down nearly 0.1 per cent to 6,652.20.
South Korea's Kospi stood virtually unchanged but a tad lower at 2,121.24. Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.1 per cent to 28,214.56.
The Shanghai Composite inched up less than 0.1 per cent at 2,982.65, reports AP.
On Wall Street, discouraging economic data and cautionary remarks from the head of the Federal Reserve weighed on the market.
The S&P 500 index fell 27.97 points, or 1.0 per cent, to 2,917.38. The Dow dropped 179.32 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 26,548.22.
The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, slid 120.98 points, or 1.5 per cent, to 7,884.72.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks gave up 9.05 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 1,521.04.
Benchmark crude oil rose $1.05 to $58.88 a barrel. It fell 7 cents to settle at $57.83 a barrel Tuesday. Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 73 cents to $65.01 a barrel.
The dollar rose slightly to 107.46 Japanese yen from 107.03 yen on Tuesday. The euro weakened to $1.1357 from $1.1381.
