Investing.com - Asian shares drifted lower on Wednesday with concern over the attacks in Belgium casting a shadow on sentiment.
Risk sentiment took a hit after explosions tore through the departure hall of Brussels airport on Tuesday morning killing at least 26 people and injuring 35 others and a second blast struck a metro station in the capital shortly afterwards.
The blasts at the airport and metro station occurred four days after the arrest in Brussels of a suspected participant in November militant attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.28%, while the S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.47% and the Shanghai Composite was down 0.08%.
The yuan rose against the dollar Wednesday after the People's Bank of China set the fixing stronger for the first time in three days at 6.4936 compared with 6.4971.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were mixed after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Technology and Basic Materials sectors led shares higher while losses in the Consumer Goods, Telecoms and Utilities sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.23%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.27%.