Asia markets were largely positive on Thursday, on the back of news that the U.S. was attempting to restart trade negotiations with China.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 recovered 216.71 points, or 1%, to 22,821.32, with the moves coming after Japan saw an 11% increase in core machinery orders for the month of July, largely rebounding from a decline in the prior month.
Japan's Tokyo Electron fell by 3% for the day and semiconductor test equipment manufacturer Advantest saw an even bigger drop of 5.4%
The Japanese yen continued to weaken against the U.S. dollar at 111.47 yen
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng soared 669.45, or 2.5%, to 27,014.49
Over in South Korea, industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics slid by 1.1% while Taiwan's Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company ended the day lower by 2.1%.
Australian markets fell, with the utilities sector down by 2.2%. The Australian dollar held on to most of its gains from the morning to trade at $0.7180 U.S.
The moves in Australia came after employment numbers from jobs data for the month of August exceeded expectations at 44,000 as compared to the economist forecast of 15,000.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 regained 34.55 points, or 1.1%, to 3,236.57
The U.S. was in the early stages of proposing a new round of trade talks with China in the near future. That came after Dow Jones reported earlier that senior U.S. officials led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had sent an invitation to Chinese officials requesting for a "ministerial-level delegation" to attend trade discussions.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times STI index gained 7.12 points, or 0.2%, to 3,131.77
In Korea, the Kospi index picked up 3.31 points, or 0.1%, to 2,286.23
In Taiwan, the Taiex index inched forward 4.66 points to 10,727.23
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 restocked 53.41 points, or 0.6%, to 9,248.99
In Australia, the ASX 200 slid 47.2 points, or 0.8%, to 6,128.72
