Asia: Stocks mixed as investors await Fed and BoJ policy meetings

Asian stocks were mixed on Monday with investors holding back ahead of this week's US Federal Reserve meeting.

While most analysts see the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged, investors will be looking to see whether the central bank changes its forward guidance.

“Markets appear to have got it into their heads that this week’s Federal Reserve rate meeting could well be the precursor to a change in their forward guidance, which some think could be a precursor to a potential rate rise this summer,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

Accendo Markets analysts said: "More and more investors expect the US central bank to raise its benchmark interest rate sooner rather than later."

Australia's ASX was down 0.29% and Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.04% following last week's weaker-than-expected Japanese gross domestic product growth.

The Bank of Japan is due to announce its monetary policy on Tuesday. Analysts expect policy to remain unchanged, while waiting for the outcome of wage hike negotiations, which could affect consumer prices.

On the bright side, China's Shanghai composite index rose 2.56% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.53%.

Premier Li Keqiang said at the National People's Congress on Sunday that the Chinese government is ready to boost the private sector and domestic demand if growth continues to decrease.

“The good news is that in the past couple of years we did not resort to massive stimulus measures for economic growth. We still have more tools in our toolbox,” he said at the only press conference he holds each year.

In company news, Chinese computer technology group Lenovo fell 0.55% despite reports from Wall Street Journal that it is planning to launch an initial public offering of $3bn in Hong Kong in July.

Energy companies were the biggest fallers of the day, with Australian Woodside Petroleum losing 2.19% and Santos coming down by 1.97%. In Tokyo, oil group Inpex also fell 4.31%.