Global shares mixed as investors await Fed meeting

Shares rose in Europe on Tuesday ater a day of mixed but muted trading in Asia. Investors are awaiting a US Federal Reserve meeting later in the week.

France’s CAC 40 edged 0.1 per cent higher to 5,415.47, while Germany’s DAX climbed 0.2 per cent to 11,681.07. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3 per cent to 7,324.22. US shares were set for gains with Dow futures up 0.3 per cent at 26,032.00. S&P 500 futures added 0.2 per cent to 2,847.10.

British politics were stymied by uncertainty as the government mulled what to do about a parliamentary rejection of a vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan for spliting with the European Union.

On Thursday, EU leaders will meet and discuss if they will grant an extension of the March 29 deadline for the UK to leave the bloc.

Investors also are watching for the outcome of the Fed’s meeting, expecting it might slow its pace of interest rate increases. The worry in December was that the central bank would raise rates too fast, choking off growth as the global economy slowed. The Fed will meet to discuss interest-rate policy later week, with an announcement scheduled for Wednesday.

Economists expect the Fed to announce no change to rates, but it might release documents that would suggest one rate increase in 2019, or possibly zero, ater the Fed raised rates four times in 2018 and three times in 2017.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost nearly 0.1 per cent to 21,566.85.