TREASURIES-Sit tight in Asia before Fed, 2-yr auction

* Fed's post-meeting statement in focus

* Data on home prices, store sales, consumer confidence due

* $30 bln two-year note auction may be weak

By Rika Otsuka

TOKYO, June 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries were little changed in Asia on Tuesday as investors awaited a string of data and a Federal Reserve statement that could offer clues about the future path of the central bank's monetary policy.

Trading activity was subdued as many investors were reluctant to take fresh positions ahead of their book closings at the end of the April-June quarter.

The Fed starts a two-day meeting on Tuesday at which it is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at 2 percent.

The market's focal point will be the post-meeting statement, with many analysts predicting the Fed will adopt tougher language in expressing concerns about inflation.

"The market is likely to react if the Fed's comments are hawkish as it has already trimmed rate hike expectations that were previously pretty large," said Akihiro Nishida, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

Speculation on the Fed's next rate move has swung widely in recent weeks. More than two weeks ago, traders were betting the Fed would aggressively boost rates in the second half of the year to contain inflation.

Last week, traders pared those expectations following reports showing anaemic economic growth, but they still expect two quarter-percentage-point rate increases by year-end, according to interest rate futures. FEDWATCH.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note edged down 1/32 in price to yield 4.170 percent US10YT=RR, up about 0.5 basis point from late U.S. trading on Monday.

The two-year note was unchanged in price for a yield of 2.952 percent US2YT=RR.

Investors were hesitant to trade shorter-dated notes as they braced for the Treasury's $30 billion two-year auction later in the day.

Mitsubishi UFJ's Nishida said many investors will be cautious about bidding at the debt sale due to recent shifts in the monetary policy outlook.

For more hints on the timing of a Fed interest rate hike, investors will look to weekly reports on chain and department store sales, the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller indexes on home prices in April and the Conference Board's consumer confidence survey for June. (Editing by Chris Gallagher)