Asian shares were roughly flat Wednesday, as investors shifted focus to positive corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve's monetary-policy meeting from China's three-day selloff.

The Shanghai Composite is up 1.4% at 3715.93. The smaller Shenzhen Composite is 2.3% higher at 2160.11, while the small-cap ChiNext board is 2.6% at 2649.50.

Despite shedding 11% in three days, China's stock market's losses slowed Tuesday, falling 1.7%. That helped ease concerns elsewhere in Asia and abroad.

The Nikkei Stock Average was off 0.3%, South Korea's Kospi was up 0.3% and Australia's S&P ASX 200 was up 0.8%.

Gains overnight in the U.S. and Europe helped retrace deep losses from Monday.

Upbeat earnings from companies like Ford Motor Co., which reported a 44% jump in net income for the second quarter, helped lift sentiment. Investors also will be parsing clues from the Fed about the timing of an interest-rate increase.

Still, many remain cautious. Though most global markets have been insulated from the erratic swings in Chinese stocks in recent weeks, the moves nevertheless have stoked fears about whether a rout in the world's second-largest economy will weigh on global growth.

"Buying appetite remains weak with Chinese market volatility and worries of China's economic growth playing so much havoc with investor sentiment," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager of equities at SMBC Nikki Securities. "How all of this may affect the timing of a U.S. interest rate increase is of keen interest."

Authorities have come out to soothe investor concerns amid the second bout of selling this month. On Tuesday afternoon, China securities watchdog said that it would investigate whether a coordinated dumping of shares sparked Monday's selloff. Late Monday, the regulator said it would increase its support to the market.

Commodities, battered by a stronger U.S. dollar and worries about China's slowdown, continued to slide. China is one of the world's largest consumers of oil, metals and food. A stronger dollar is also bad news for commodities, many of which are priced in the currency, because it becomes more expensive for foreign buyers.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell Tuesday to its lowest price since January amid concerns about glut. Crude oil futures were down 16 cents at $47.82 a barrel. Both Brent and the U.S. oil benchmark recently entered bear markets—defined as a 20% drop from a recent high.

Expectations the U.S. will raise interest rates soon has tarnished gold, which has hit multiyear lows in the past week, as investors consider moving to higher-yielding assets. Spot gold is down $1.50 to $1,094.90 an ounce in Asia trade.

Write to Chao Deng at Chao.Deng@wsj.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires