Asian benchmarks mostly decline  as investors anticipate US rate cut

TOKYO, Dec 10: Asian shares were mostly lower, trading in a narrow range ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting later Wednesday that’s expected to result in the third cut to interest rates this year. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 0.4 per cent in morning trading to 50,447.95. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped nearly 0.1 per cent to 8,580.30. South Korea’s Kospi inched up less than 0.1 per cent to 4,144.61. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.4 per cent to 25,337.62, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.6 per cent to 3,887.00. Eric Schiffer, chairman of The Patriarch Organisation private equity firm, expects markets to do well for the rest of the year, and possibly next year. “The Fed may be even more accommodating than what the market is currently reading. I also believe there is a strong