Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.86 percent, as shares of Chinese tech giant Tencent jumped 2.4 percent — it had earlier reached its highest level since the last intra-day high on August 10.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan added 0.84 percent in afternoon trade as shares of index heavyweight Fast Retailing soared almost 5 percent. The Topix index rose 0.52 percent.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.6 percent as chipmaker SK Hynix saw its stock jump more than 2 percent.
Mainland Chinese stocks, however, were tepid by the morning session’s end, with the Shanghai composite advancing 0.23 percent. The Shenzhen component and Shenzhen composite were largely flat.
Meanwhile, the ASX 200 in Australia rose 0.65 percent. Data on Wednesday showed that retail sales Down Under hit a 15-month high in February, with the country’s trade surplus soaring beyond expectations to its second highest on record in the same month.
The broad MSCI Asia ex-Japan index advanced 0.69 percent to 539.56, as of 12:27 p.m. HK/SIN.
The U.S. and China are set to resume trade negotiations in Washington on Wednesday, following last week’s talks in Beijing. Ahead of the meeting, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the two countries “expect to make more headway” in this week’s talks.
