Investing.com - Asian shares gained on Wednesday as investors took a cue from Wall Street and shrugged off tensions on the Korean peninsula.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 shrugged off some notable dips in shares and edged up 0.22%.
Most blue-chip automakers in japan however were pressured. Toyota fell 0.53% and Mazda Motor sank 1.82%. Kobe Steel fell 17.88%, extending losses made in the previous session when its stock closed down 21.9%. The company had earlier admitted to falsifying data about the quality of its products.
Also in Japan, Sanrio stock fell 9.35% after the company revised down its forecast for full-year results for the year ending March 2018. The company is most known for being the owner of the Hello Kitty brand.
Japan reported core machinery orders for August jumped 3.4%, compared to a with a 1.1% gain expected on month and at a 4.4% pace on year compared to a 0.8% increase expected.
In Greater China, the Shanghai index rose 0.05% and the hang Seng index gained 0.30%.
Overnight, U.S. stocks closed higher on Tuesday as investors piled into equities amid bullish expectations that companies are set to reveal solid third-quarter results ahead of the start of corporate earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 22,830.68. The S&P 500 closed 0.23% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6587.25, up 0.11%.
Shares of Walmart (NYSE:WMT) surged nearly 5% lifting the broader market higher after the retailer announced a $20 billion buyback and reiterated its earnings outlook for the current fiscal year amid competition from Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Technology stocks, however, capped upside momentum as FANG stocks – an acronym referring to Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) (NASDAQ:FB) Amazon, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) – ended the session in negative territory. Some analysts suggested that investors are keeping their powder dry ahead of earnings from bellwether companies like Facebook.
On the geopolitical front, investors cheered news that Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont asked the Spanish parliament to suspend results of independence referendum that was marred by scenes of violence against voters.
Puigdemont asked parliament to suspend the effects of Catalonia voting \"yes\" for independence to hold talks with Spain.