The earnings season and stock-specific news dominated regional trading, although the mood was subdued on news that euro-zone finance ministers had postponed a meeting to discuss Greece's second bailout, and on disappointing U.S. retail sales data.
With traders reminded of the ills of Europe and no new date set for (European Union) ministers to discuss Greek's amendments to the revised debt deal, many will be sitting things out for the time being.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average advanced 1.0%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was off 0.3%, South Korea's Kospi Composite rose 0.6% and New Zealand's NZX-50 lost 1.1%.
Honda Motor rose 1.5%, Toyota Motor advanced 2.1%, and Sony jumped 2.3%.
Mergers and acquisition activity generated some buzz in the region. In Sydney, Westfield surged 6.5% on news the Australian mall owner has agreed to sell a 45% stake in 11 U.S. shopping malls and one mall-development site to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for nearly $2.2 billion.
South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor jumped 5.3% after SK Telecom said it has paid roughly $3 billion for a 21.05% stake in the world's No. 2 memory chipmaker to complete the takeover. The news drove Samsung Electronics up 3.9%, although LG Electronics was off 0.7%.
The Sydney market was weighed by declines in resources stocks on Tuesday's drop in base metals prices. BHP Billiton lost 1.2% and Fortescue Metals dropped 2.8%.
In foreign exchange markets, the yen fell to a fresh three-month low against the U.S. dollar as investors continued to shun the Japanese currency after Tuesday's BOJ decision. The dollar was at Y78.62, after tapping Y78.67 earlier, from Y78.45 late Tuesday in New York.
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