Markets in Asia traded mostly higher on Wednesday, as investors await policy details from the Trump administration on tax reforms and deregulation.
The Nikkei 225 Index docked 1.57 points to 19,379.87
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong recovered 238.33 points, or 1%, to 24,201.96
Toshiba shares jumped 22.3% to 224.7 yen, following a Nikkei business daily report that said the troubled conglomerate asked potential bidders for its memory chip business to value the unit at a minimum of two trillion yen ($17.6 billion U.S.) or more.
Rakuten shares jumped 9.4%, after the company announced a share buyback program on Tuesday. Rakuten said it will buy back 8.4% of total shares outstanding, excluding treasury stock, for a maximum acquisition value of 100 billion yen.
As for the Japanese currency, it traded at 113.43 to the U.S. dollar, relatively weaker than levels reached earlier in the week and giving some boost to Japanese export stocks. Shares of Toyota rose 0.4%, Sony was up 0.4% and Canon added 1%
Australian markets reversed losses as vitamin maker Blackmores fell 10.3% after the company reported net profit in the six months to Dec. 31 fell 41% to 28.5 million Australian dollars ($21.9 million U.S.), compared with A$75.8 million expected for the full year by analysts in an economist poll.
BHP Billiton closed down 0.7% after the Anglo Australian miner reported on Tuesday underlying first-half net profit rose almost eight-fold to $3.24 billion from $412 million U.S. a year earlier, but missed forecasts for $3.4 billion U.S.
In Sydney, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe spoke at an event where he suggested further interest rate cuts would not benefit Australia as it ran the risk of increasing household debt.
The Australian dollar fetched $0.7689 U.S.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 gained 6.94 points, or 0.2%, to 3,489.76
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index added 14.85 points, or 0.2%, to 9,778.78
In Korea, the Kospi index took on 3.68 points, or 0.2%, to 2,106.61
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index moved up 28.01 points, or 0.9%, to 3,122.20
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dropped 53.21 points, or 0.8%, to 7,062.48
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 regained 14.07 points, or 0.2%, to 5,805.10
