At a two-day meeting beginning later on Tuesday, the Fed is expected to take another step toward policy normalization and announce plans to begin unwinding its $4.2 trillion portfolio of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities.The Fed is expected to hold interest rates steady, with investors looking for clues on its anticipated pace of further tightening later this year and next. 

In stocks, Asian shares slipped on Tuesday, supported by record highs on Wall Street but hobbled by uncertainty as traders awaited the Federal Reserve meeting.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1 percent after wobbling between positive and negative territory for much of the morning.

On Wall Street on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high for the fifth straight session, and the S&P 500 marked its second straight closing record high, as higher U.S. Treasury yields helped lift financial shares.

In the Middle East, the Saudi index edged down 0.1 percent, hit by declines in most banking stocks as investors booked profits on recent gains. Bank Aljazira, which had risen 3.9 percent on Sunday, lost 0.9 percent.Dubai's index rose 0.8 percent as theme park operator DXB Entertainments, the top performer of the day, jumped 6.2 percent; trading volume was moderate, though. Emaar Properties added 2.2 percent.

The Egyptian index edged down 0.2 percent but Arabian Food Industries (Domty) rose 1.6 percent after saying it expects its third-quarter revenue to reach 700 million Egyptian pounds ($39.7 million). Second-quarter revenues were 487 million pounds.

In currencies, the dollar held steady at near 8-week highs versus the yen on Tuesday, with investors awaiting the Federal Reserve’s policy statement this week for fresh hints on the possible pace and timing of further U.S. monetary tightening.

In commodities, oil markets were stable on Tuesday, supported by a fall in Saudi Arabian crude exports but capped by an expected rise in U.S. shale output.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $50.00 per barrel at 0043 GMT, 9 cents, or 0.2 percent, above their last settlement.

Gold on Tuesday inched up from its lowest in over two weeks.

In other news, Egypt expects a funding shortfall of $10 billion to $12 billion in its current fiscal year, when it plans to issue $8 billion in new dollar-denominated bonds, the Finance Minister said on Monday.

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