Asian shares followed Wall Street higher on Wednesday, albeit in thin volume, and short-term U.S. bond yields held near 4 1/2-year highs as investors braced for the possibility of the first interest rate hike in the United States in almost a decade. Markets remain mixed on the likelihood of a rate increase by the Fed at its two-day meeting starting later in the day, and U.S. economic data published on Tuesday did little to either back, or douse, expectations of one.