Asian shares idled and the dollar held firm on Monday as investors looked to navigate a minefield of central bank meetings this week that could see the end of free money in Japan and perhaps a slower glide path for U.S. rate cuts.

Central banks in the United States, Japan, UK, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Brazil and Mexico all meet and, while most are expected to hold steady, there is plenty of scope for surprises.

Tuesday could see the end of an era as the Bank of Japan is now widely tipped to end eight years of negative interest rates and cease or amend its yield curve control policy.

Markets also assume the BOJ will hike at a snail's pace and have a rate of 0.27% priced in by December, compared with the current -0.1%.

That might be one reason the yen actually lost ground last week, with the dollar gaining 1.4% to trade at 149.00 yen. The euro stood at $1.0883 , having eased 0.5% last week and away from a top of $1.0963.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1%, after dipping 0.7% last week. Chinese data on retail sales and industrial output for February due later Monday are potential hurdles for the market.

S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were both up 0.1%, with tension building ahead of the Federal Reserve policy meeting in Tuesday and Wednesday.

Source : Reuters