Mainland Chinese shares bounced strongly on Wednesday afternoon as markets took hope in stimulus measures announced by Beijing on Tuesday.
The rest of Asia was more subdued. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 129.47 points, or 0.6%, to 21,596.81, Shares of Fast Retailing, the company behind the Uniqlo chain of apparel stores, fell more than 2%.
The Japanese yen traded at 111.77 against the U.S. dollar after seeing lows above 112 yesterday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 76 points, or 0.3%, to 29,037.60,
Korea markets floundered, with industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics recovering slightly to slip 0.6%, from steeper declines earlier.
Australia's stocks rose, but the Australian dollar dropped to a two-month low of $0.7031 U.S., last changing hands at $0.7034. Data on Wednesday showed the country's economy slowed sharply in the second half of last year.
CHINA
In China, the CSI 300 added 32.08 points, or 0.8%, to 3,848.09
Stimulus measures announced by Beijing on Tuesday included infrastructure spending and cuts in taxes and fees worth nearly two trillion yuan ($289.28 billion U.S.).
On trade developments, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday he thought Washington and Beijing were "on the cusp" of reaching a deal that would end the trade skirmish.
On the first day of China's annual National People's Congress (NPC) on Tuesday, a private survey showed that the country's services sector in February saw its slowest rate of growth in four months. Beijing had said on Tuesday that it is lowering the country's growth target for this year.
The findings were largely in line with those of an official gauge of the non-manufacturing sector released last week, which showed services activity cooled in February after rebounding for two straight months.
The services Purchasing Managers' Index numbers were "more influential on markets" than anything coming out of the first day of the NPC and "affirmed" Beijing's Gross Domestic Product growth target for 2019.
In other markets
In Korea, the Kospi index dropped 3.63 points, or 0.2%, to 2,175.60
In Taiwan, the Taiex recovered 51.89 points, or 0.5%, to 10,357.15
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index slumped 11.23 points, or 0.4%, to 3,222.84
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 recouped 15.31 points, or 0.2%, to 9,415
In Australia, the ASX 200 restocked 46.32 points, or 0.8%, to 6,245.62
