TOKYO: Asian stocks slipped on Thursday, taking their cue from an overnight drop on Wall Street, while the dollar marked time ahead of Friday's speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen at the global central bankers' meeting.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> lost 0.3 percent.
Australian stocks <.AXJO> fell 0.1 percent, South Korea's Kospi <.KS11> shed 0.2 percent and Japan's Nikkei <.N225> nudged down 0.3 percent.
Wall Street retreated on Wednesday, pulled lower by weakness in the materials and healthcare sectors, with the Dow <.DJI> losing 0.4 percent and S&P 500 <.SPX> falling 0.5 percent. [.N]
Global markets awaited Yellen's speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday for insight on the U.S. monetary policy outlook.
Recent hawkish comments from some Fed officials, including Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer, have raised expectations that Yellen would express similar views.
"As everyone who's anyone in central banking and economic academia gather for two days of discussion, there will be a variety of speeches and comments by senior officials. Some of these may move the markets," wrote Marshall Gittler, head of investment research at FXPrimus.
"The one everyone is waiting for is of course tomorrow's presentation by Fed Chair Janet Yellen, but other people may have something important to say before then too."
The dollar has swayed in both directions over the past week as expectations for a near-term Fed rate hike have ebbed and flowed.
The greenback was little changed at 100.540 yen
Sterling traded at $1.3240, not far off a three-week high of $1.3273
In commodities, crude oil prices remained under pressure after sliding sharply on Wednesday.
U.S. crude
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