Asian shares shed gains ahead of Fed policy statement

By ELAINE KURTENBACH
AP Business Writer

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares are mostly lower in Asia as traders await the outcome of the last Federal Reserve meeting of this year. Hong Kong and Shanghai gave up early gains and Tokyo and Seoul were little changed after the U.S. Labor Department reported that inflation was still running high in November. Stocks on Wall Street retreated, with the S&P 500 falling 0.7% and the Nasdaq down 1.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%. The inflation data showed that wholesale prices jumped a record 9.6% in November from a year earlier. Fed policymakers end a two-day meeting Wednesday where they’re expected to speed up the withdrawal of economic stimulus measures.