Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday amid lingering tariff concerns and tense Russia-Ukraine negotiations.
The U.S. dollar held firm and gold hovered near record levels, while oil extended gains for a third straight session amid worries of oil supply disruptions in the U.S. and Russia.
China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped 0.8 percent to 3,351.54 despite comments from U.S. President Donald Trump that the U.S. may impose tariffs of around 25 percent on pharmaceutical, automobile, and semiconductor imports. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged down 0.1 percent to 22,944.24.

Japanese markets ended slightly lower after the release of mixed economic data, with exports rising 7.2 percent year-on-year in January, while core machinery orders, a key indicator of capital spending, unexpectedly declined in December.

The Nikkei 225 Index dipped 0.3 percent to 39,164.61 as policy board member Hajime Takata called for gradual rate hikes to mitigate the risk of rising prices and financial market overheating. The broader Topix Index settled 0.3 percent lower at 2,767.25.

Automakers Toyota, Honda Motor and Nissan fell around 2 percent each. Tech heavyweight SoftBank dropped 1.9 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing gave up 2.1 percent.

On the positive side, Advantest rose about 1 percent and Tokyo Electron jumped 3.5 percent.

Seoul stocks rose for the seventh consecutive day, with the Kospi jumping 1.7 percent to 2,671.52, led by technology stocks.

Samsung Electronics rallied 3.2 percent and SK Hynix surged over 4 percent after reports emerged that Broadcom and TSMC are eyeing Intel's chip-design and manufacturing businesses.