SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks in Asia were mixed on Monday as investors fretted over this week's meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve.

"With inflation eye-wateringly high, the Fed is on course to steadily remove the ultra-accommodative monetary policy that has been a key prop to stock prices for over a decade now," Oliver Allen, a market economist at Capital Economics told Reuters Monday.

The Australian All Ordinaries fell 48.60 points or 0.65 percent to 7,441.50.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 managed a small rise. The key index gained 66.11 points or 0.24 percent to close Monday at 27,588.37.

China's Shanghai Composite, finished flat. The benchmark index added just 1.54 points or 0.04 percent to 3,524.10.

In Hong Kong the Hang Seng shed 309.09 points or 1.245 percent to close at 24,656.46.

On foreign exchange markets, the U.S. dollar drifted higher. The euro nudged down to 1.1321 by the Sydney close. The British pound was softer at 1.3546. The Swiss franc was little changed at 0.9141. The Japanese yen edged up to 113.78.

The Canadian dollar was weak at 1.2576. The Australian dollar gave up early gains to edge down to 0.7160. The New Zealand dollar was unwanted at 0.6709.