Investing.com - Asian shares were narrowly mixed on Wednesday in light pre-holiday trade with passage of US tax cuts temporarily snagged by a legislative procedural issue in the Senate.
Japan's Nikkei 225 edged up 0.04%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.14%.
In Greater China, the Shanghai Composite dipped 0.04% and the Hang Seng index gained 0.04%.Hong Kong-listed Fosun International fell 0.49% following a Reuters report that the conglomerate was looking to buy a majority stake in Italian lingerie company La Perla.
Overnight, Wall Street eased from record highs on Tuesday despite growing investor expectations that Congress will vote to pass the tax bill this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower at 24,754.75. The S&P 500 closed 0.32% higher, while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6963.85, down 0.44%.
On the economic data front, investors cheered upbeat housing data supporting the narrative of a strengthening US economy as single-family homebuilding in November rose to its highest since September 2007.
The Commerce Department said on Tuesday that single-family homebuilding, which accounts for the largest share of the housing market, rose 5.3% to a rate of 930,000 units.
In corporate news, Tesla (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:TSLA) closed more than 2% lower despite signs of uptick in demand for its semi-trucks.