Investing.com - Asian shares traded mixed on Wednesday after the morning session with the focus on global tech stocks on concerns U.S. equities are due for a correction.
The Nikkei 225 ended the morning down 1.82%, but the Shanghai Composite gained 0.12% and the Hang Sengindex rose 1.01%.
Japanese stocks fell with Softbank Corp. (9984.TOK) down more than 2%, while Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (TCTZF.PK) was up 2.5% in Hong Kong.
In other corporate news, shares in Australian department-store operator David Jones Ltd (DJS.ASX) surged 23% in Sydney after it said on Wednesday that it had received a 2.15 billion Australian dollar (US$2.01 billion) takeover bid from South African retailer Woolworths Holdings.
Overnight, the Dow 30 ended the session up 0.06%, the S&P 500 rose 0.38%, while the Nasdaq rose 0.81%.
Investors sold off technology stocks for three consecutive sessions and jumped to the sidelines to await first-quarter earnings, though by Tuesday, bottom fishers saw attractively-priced shares and sent indices back into positive territory.
After the close of European trade, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 fell 0.35%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.25%, while Germany's DAX fell 0.21%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 1000 fell 0.49%.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its March policy meeting, and markets will move if the document contains a clearly visible weather vane pointing to the direction of U.S. monetary policy.