Asian stocks meandered on Monday as investors looked ahead to the Fed’s meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for clues on timing for possible interest rate hikes.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3 per cent to 3,098.10 while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.2 per cent to 16,584.75. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.5 per cent to 22,818.30 and Seoul’s Kospi added 0.9 per cent to 2,017.94. Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 advanced 0.4 per cent to 5,497.40 and benchmarks in New Zealand and Indonesia rose. Singapore and Thailand declined.

On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average shed 45.13 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 18,552.57. The S&P 500 fell 3.15 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 2,183.87. The Nasdaq composite lost 1.77 points, or less than 0.1 per cent, to 5,238.38. The Nasdaq rose for the eighth week in a row, although the gain was just 0.1 per cent.