Asia Stocks Down After US Fed Hints At June Rate Hike

Asian stocks slipped but the dollar was buoyant early on Thursday as markets scrambled to factor in a near-term U.S. interest rate hike foreshadowed in minutes of the Federal Reserve's last monetary meeting.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.3 percent. South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.3 percent.

Japan's Nikkei rose 1 percent thanks to a weaker yen, which fell to a three-week low against the dollar after the minutes were published.