The U.S. Federal Open Market Committee and the Bank of Japan's policy board meet in succession this week, with analysts saying the outcomes could set the direction for Asian equities.

Markets are working through response scenarios split three ways — hold, cut or hike — since the reaction of currencies and the yield curve differs in each case.

Ahead of the meeting, the U.S. president said American interest rates should be the lowest in the world, reviving discussion about the independence of monetary policy.

At the BOJ, the path of prices and the level of the yen are cited as the main inputs. Some analysts say attention rests less on whether policy changes than on shifts in the wording of the post-meeting explanation.

In Taiwan, the large weight of semiconductor stocks makes the route from rate decisions to the index through technology valuations especially direct.

Korea's market has a similar structure, though with greater sensitivity to the exchange rate, so fund flows sometimes show up in the index before the rate decision itself.

Meeting outcomes are a matter of forecast, and responsibility for individual investment decisions rests with investors. This paper recommends no specific security or timing. (Source: press reports)