Asia share indexes were set for a fourth consecutive day of losses Wednesday as a storm in China equity markets rippled across the region, boosting safe-haven currencies ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.91%, though markets in Hong Kong and mainland China saw milder losses after a sharp sell-off in the previous sessions.

U.S. stock futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, were down 0.26%, pan-region Eurostoxx 50 futures dropped 0.11%, and FTSE futures fell 0.3%.

Asian shares have fallen in each of the three previous sessions as broadening regulatory crackdowns in China roiled stocks in the technology, property and education sectors, leaving international investors bruised.

China state-run financial media urged calm early Wednesday and while shares swung back and forth they did not repeat the sharp falls seen earlier in the week.

Blue chips were last 0.46% lower, having had a volatile day, and the Hong Kong benchmark gave up early gains to fall 0.82%. Both were pinned around eight-month lows.

The Hang Seng Tech Index also gave up early gains to fall 0.4%, a day after touching its lowest level since the index's creation in July 2020. It is down over 40% from its February high.

Japan's Nikkei slid 1.73%, with shares in SoftBank Group, a major investor in Chinese tech, falling 4.7%.

"China and the Federal Reserve are the two key things," said Tai Hui, chief market strategist for Asia Pacific, at JPMorgan Asset Management.

"We are still trying to digest the news from China, what's going to be new is how the Federal Reserve views the latest round of Covid infections and whether they need to readjust their view," he said.

The statement from the Federal Reserve policy meeting is due at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), with a news conference by Chairperson Jerome Powell expected a half-hour later.

Markets will be watching closely for any hints on when the Federal Reserve will start reducing its purchases of government bonds and any fresh insight into its views on inflation and economic growth.

The declines in Asian equities Tuesday spread to other markets overnight, causing Wall Street to retreat a little from the record highs set earlier in the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Tuesday down 0.2%, the S&P 500 shed 0.5% and the Nasdaq composite slid 1.2%.

After the U.S. close, Google parent Alphabet Inc., Microsoft, and Apple all reported record quarterly earnings, though the smartphone maker's shares slid in after-hours trading on the back of a slower growth forecast.

Apple Inc. said a world chip shortage that has bit into its ability to sell Macs and iPads will start to affect iPhone production and forecast slowing revenue growth, sending its shares lower. Apple executives said revenue for the current fiscal fourth quarter will grow by double-digits but be below the 36.4% growth rate in the just-ended third quarter. Growth will also slow in Apple's closely watched services business, they said.

Shares of Apple, whose valuation has more than doubled in about three years to nearly $2.5 trillion, were down 1.7% to $144.24 in after-hours trading after the call.

Earlier in the day, Apple reported third quarter sales and profits that beat analyst expectations as consumers bought premium versions of its 5G iPhones and signed up for its subscription services. China sales grew 58% to $14.76 billion in the quarter, which ended June 26.

Microsoft Corp posted its most profitable quarter, beating Wall Street expectations for revenue and earnings, as PC sales declines stemming from a global chip shortage were more than made up for by a boom in cloud services.

Shares ticked up 0.7% after Microsoft projected that growth in its Azure cloud computing business will continue apace following a quarter in which sales climbed 51%. Overall revenue rose 21% to $46.2 billion, beating analysts' consensus by about $2 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The pandemic-driven shift to remote work has boosted consumer appetite for cloud-based computing, helping companies including Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc.'s cloud unit and Alphabet Inc.'s Google Cloud.

Google parent Alphabet Inc.'s quarterly revenue and profit surged to record highs, the company reported Tuesday, powered by a rise in advertising spending as more consumers shopped online.

Shares of Alphabet, the world's largest provider of search and video ads, rose 3.3% in extended trading after the results, which handily beat analyst estimates. Shares of Facebook, which competes with Google in web ad sales and reports its own results Wednesday, rose 1.3%.

With consumers spending more time online during the coronavirus pandemic, retailers have been pushing to reach them there, whether they're shopping for products using Google search or watching videos on YouTube. The nascent U.S. economic rebound that's accompanied the vaccine rollout and the easing of restrictions is also helping as consumers are enjoying increased mobility and options for purchases of all kinds.

In currency markets, things were fairly quiet in Asian trading hours, with the U.S. dollar sitting below recent highs after a monthlong rally.

The safe-haven yen held on to earlier gains and the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand dollars dropped back, but while analysts at CBA attributed the earlier moves to falling risk sentiment on the back of the Chinese regulatory crackdown, they said market participants were now turning their attention to the Federal Reserve.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was little changed from the U.S. close at 1.236% compared to 1.234%.

Oil prices rose as industry data showed U.S. crude and product inventories fell more sharply than expected last week, outweighing worries that surging COVID-19 cases would curb fuel demand. U.S. crude rose 0.56% to $72.05 a barrel and Brent crude rose 0.36% to $74.81 per barrel. Gold strengthened, with spot prices above the important level of $1,800, while Bitcoin rose around 1.3%, trading both sides of $40,000.