On Wednesday (March 20), most Asian stock markets held steady in cautious trading, with investors expecting the Fed's meeting later in the day to provide more clues about U.S. interest rates。

Although the Bank of Japan raised interest rates for the first time in 17 years, dovish comments from the previous day boosted regional markets。However, Asian trading volumes declined as Japanese stocks closed Wednesday。

Wall Street indices close higher overnight as tech and oil stocks rise。U.S. stock index futures, however, fell slightly in Asian trading amid growing concerns about the Federal Reserve。

South Korea's KOSPI, on the other hand, benefited from strong gains by Samsung Electronics (KS: 005930), making it Asia's best-performing stock market at one stroke, up 1.1%。Samsung shares rise as Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) considers using Samsung's high-bandwidth memory chips in its AI engine。And HBM chip maker SK Hynix (KS: 000660) shares fell about 3% on concerns about being affected by Samsung competition。

With the exception of KOSPI, most market indices in Asia were essentially flat on the day, with investors determined to avoid big deals ahead of the Fed meeting.。

China's CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite, as well as Hong Kong's Hang Seng, were essentially flat, in line with expectations, after the People's Bank of China left its benchmark lending rate unchanged.。

Australia's ASX 200 index rose slightly, continuing to rise amid the RBA's less hawkish stance on Tuesday。

India's Nifty 50 index futures show slight positive opening。The Nifty Index and the BSE Sensex 30 Index are expected to rebound after falling more than 1% each on Tuesday.。