Asian shares drifted lower on Tuesday following Wall Street losses overnight after a sell-off in technology stocks hampered risk sentiment before a key Federal Reserve policy meeting.
Stocks retreated on the back of declines in tech companies amidst reports of a Facebook Inc data breach and Apple Inc efforts to develop its own screens.
This comes ahead of the Federal Reserve Market Committee's first meeting with new head Jerome Powell later in the day.
Strengthening labor market and a steady increase in price pressures could pave the way for the central bank to raise interest rates in the upcoming meeting.
The CME FedWatch tool currently places the likelihood of a 25 basis point hike at 91.6 percent, one fully worked in for the markets.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.2 percent. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.0 percent in the morning trading.
On Wall Street the S&P 500 lost 1.42 percent and the Nasdaq Composite 1.84 percent.
Back home, SGX Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50's trend in India, signals a weak start for the domestic markets after the benchmark Sensex plunged 252 points or 0.76 percent to close at 32,923 on Monday.
The partially convertible rupee ended at 65.18 on Monday, down 0.36 percent from its previous close of 64.94.
So far this year, the rupee weakened 1.8 percent, while foreign investors have bought $1.4 billion in equity and $317 million in debt market.
Policy meetings: The Reserve Bank of Australia releases minutes of the March meeting on Tuesday while the Bank of England will meet on Thursday, where it's expected to keep interest rates and its asset-purchase program unchanged.
Crude check: Brent crude, the benchmark for more than half the world's oil, rose 0.29 percent at $66.24 per barrel while the West Texas Intermediate crude gained 0.40 percent at $62.31 a barrel, on Tuesday morning.
