Asia-Pacific markets were mixed as investors digested economic data from Japan and Australia.
Quad leaders also canceled a planned meeting in Sydney next week as U.S. President Joe Biden cut his Asia trip short to return to the U.S. for talks on the debt ceiling.
Hong Kong's stocks saw a sharp sell-off in its final hours of trade, with Hang Seng index trading nearly 2% lower in Wednesday's afternoon session. Healthcare, real estate, and consumer cyclical stocks led declines, Refinitiv data showed.
Investors further digested China's new home prices that fell 0.2% year-on-year in April. Mainland China stocks also fell, with the Shanghai Composite ticking 0.21% lower, ending at 3,284.23 and the Shenzhen Component seeing marginal declines to close at 11,091.08.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.84% – exceeding the psychological level of 30,000 and closing at 30,093.59. The Topix was up 0.3% and closed at 2,133.61, as Japan stocks surged to the highest since August 1990.
South Korea's Kospi rose 0.58% and finished at 2,492.66, while the Kosdaq jumped 2.14% to end the day at 834.19. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.49% lower at 7,199.2, with mining stocks leading the losses.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes dipped as investors turned its attention to a meeting between congressional leaders and President Joe Biden on the U.S. debt ceiling.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below its 50-day average for the first time since March 30, falling 1.01%. The S&P 500 fell 0.64%, and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.18%.
— CNBC's Sarah Min and Brian Evans contributed to this report