·       Asian stocks inched higher on Wednesday, with sentiment boosted by Wall Street’s rise and a record intraday high for the S&P 500 index, but political headlines in the U.S. and Australia and a retreat in Chinese markets darkened the mood.

Investors in the region took some comfort from hopes that the trade talks between the U.S. and China expected this week will ease trade tensions.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.2 percent, while Japan's Nikkei stock index .N225 advanced 0.6 percent.

·       Japan’s Nikkei closed higher on Wednesday supported by tech shares, which tracked gains in their U.S. peers, although telcos were volatile on news the government wanted to cut their mobile phone fees and stop handset bundling.

The Nikkei share average gained 0.64 percent to end the day at 22,362.55 after briefly dipping into negative territory early in the session.

·       China stocks fell on Wednesday, weighed down by persistent economic concerns and worries over the outlook for trade ahead of lower-level talks between Washington and Beijing.

The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.6 percent to 3,307.95 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index ended down 0.7 percent at 2,714.61 points.