Mumbai, Dec. 9 -- Asian stocks declined on Tuesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision on Wednesday, where the U.S. central bank is broadly expected to deliver a 25 basis-point rate cut despite existing divisions with the committee.

Traders remain anxious about the Federal Reserve's future easing pace, given conflicting trends of a cooling job market and sticky inflation, as well as gaps in the data from the government shutdown.

The U.S. dollar was under pressure in Asian trade and gold traded below $4,200 per ounce while oil prices were steady after slipping 2 percent in the previous two sessions.

China's Shanghai Composite index ended down 0.37 percent at 3,909.52 after the country's top decision-making body, the Po...