TREASURIES-Edge up in Asia, Fed meeting minutes in focus

TOKYO May 20 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries edged up in Asia on Wednesday as investors awaited the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, keen to see if there were hints that the central bank could boost its government bond purchases.

* The Fed will release the minutes of its April 28-29 policy meeting at 1800 GMT. Investors will be looking for indications that central bank officials discussed expanding the Fed's $300 billion buying programme.

* The Fed launched the six-month programme in March to fight the credit tightness. So far, the Fed has bought $107.9 billion, or about 36 percent of the programme.

*"Long-term Treasury yields are likely to fall if the Fed sends the market a message that it wants to bring down yields by offering up the possibility of an increase in its bond purchases," said Yasutoshi Nagai, senior economist at Daiwa Securities SMBC.

* U.S. stock futures SPc1 dipped 0.3 percent in Asia, pointing to a potentially weaker opening on Wall Street, and capping purchases of Treasuries.

* Treasuries slipped on Tuesday, after several major banks that underwent government's "stress test" asked to repay funds they had received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

* Benchmark 10-year notes inched up 4/32 in price to yield 3.236 percent US10YT=RR, down 1.5 basis points from late U.S. trade on Tuesday. Two-year notes were steady to yield 0.884 percent US2YT=RR. T-note futures TYv1 were up 2/32 to 120-23/32. (Reporting by Rika Otsuka; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)