Asia stocks attempt rebound in early trade Wednesday

Australia's main index rose 0.9 percent in early trade, while Japan's Nikkei flitted in and out of positive territory. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan firmed 0.5 percent. (Women stand in front of a board showing market indices in Tokyo July 28, 2015. - Reuters)

SYDNEY: Asian shares attempted a rebound on Wednesday on hopes that Beijing could stem the rout in its markets without damage to the economy, though caution was the watchword ahead of a policy decision from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Australia's main index <.AXJO> rose 0.9 percent in early trade, while Japan's Nikkei <.N225> flitted in and out of positive territory. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> firmed 0.5 percent.

Sentiment was soothed a little when Chinese regulators said they were prepared to buy shares to stabilize stocks and the central bank hinted at further easing.

Yet investors were understandably wary of a market that, without warning, fell over 8 percent on Monday.

The CSI300 index <.CSI300> of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen had ended on Tuesday just 0.2 percent lower, while the Shanghai Composite <.SSEC> lost 1.7 percent. Both indexes had slumped as much as 5 percent at one point. [.SS]

On Wall Street, the Dow <.DJI> ended on Tuesday with gains of 1.09 percent, while the S&P 500 <.SPX> rose 1.24 percent and the Nasdaq <.IXIC> 0.98 percent. [.N]

Not faring so well was Twitter , which sank 11 percent in extended trade after the microblogging company said its monthly average users grew at the slowest pace since it went public in 2013.

The Fed ends a two-day policy meeting later on Wednesday with markets divided on whether it will take a hawkish or dovish stance, while some suspect it might chose to do neither. No move on rates is expected this week.

In recent congressional testimony, Fed Chair Janet Yellen neither ruled out a September hike nor guided the market toward thinking it was a done deal.

"We think the upcoming FOMC statement will reflect this non-committal approach," said Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets.

"In other words, there will be no explicit tweak to the guidance signaling a hike is imminent."

At most, the Fed might sound a little more positive on the economy and describe risks to the outlook as balanced rather than "nearly" balanced, Porcelli added.

In currency markets, investors seemed to decide it was safer not to be short of the U.S. dollar ahead of the policy statement at 1800 GMT (1400 EDT).

The dollar was up at 123.57 yen , from a low of 123.04 on Tuesday, while the euro inched down to $1.1063 .

Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was off a touch at 96.628 <.DXY>.

In energy markets, oil prices were subdued ahead of official data on U.S. stockpiles. [O/R]

Brent futures were down 31 cents at $52.99 a barrel and near their lowest since February. U.S. crude futures slipped 24 cents to $47.74 a barrel.- Reuters