This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific stocks traded mixed Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump proposed tariffs "in the neighborhood of 25%" on autos, semiconductors and pharmaceutical imports.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 ended the day 0.27% lower at 39,164.61, while the broader Topix index was fell 0.3% to 2,767.25. The country had reported a two-year high trade deficit.

Business sentiment for Japanese manufacturers rose for the second month in February, results from the Reuters Tankan poll indicates. The manufacturers' sentiment index rose to plus 3 — its highest level since November — from plus 2 in January.

In South Korea, the Kospi ended 1.7% higher at 2,671.52, while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 0.6% to close at 778.27.

Mainland China's CSI 300 ended the day 0.7% higher at 3,940.16, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended the day 0.14% lower at 22,944.44.

Indian stocks snapped their losing streak with the benchmark Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex index trading flat in the last 1.5 hours of trade.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.73% to close at 8,419.20, a day after the country's central bank cut rates by 25 basis points to 4.10%, marking its first easing since November 2020.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut rates by 50 basis points to 3.75% in its policy meeting, in line with Reuters' estimates. The marks the central bank's fourth straight cut and comes as its economy slows.

The New Zealand dollar weakened 0.51% to 0.5728 against the U.S. dollar.

Overnight in the U.S., all three indexes rose, with the S&P 500 closing at a record high after stocks rallied seconds before the closing bell. The broad market index gained 0.24% to a record close of 6,129.58, after touching an intraday record of 6,129.63 before the final bell. The Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.07% at 20,041.26, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 10 points, or 0.02%, to finish the session at 44,556.34.

The energy sector was the best-performer in the S&P 500, rising 1.9%, while tech stocks also ticked up.

— CNBC's Brian Evans and Sarah Min contributed to this report.

Shares in Adani Green fall over 4% after U.S. SEC seeks India's assistance in Adani fraud probe

Shares in Adani Green fell as much as 4.08% in choppy trade on Wednesday following reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sought assistance from Indian authorities in its investigation of Adani Group founder Gautam Adani and his nephew, Reuters reported.

The U.S. regulator told a New York district court it was making efforts to serve its complaint the over alleged securities fraud, the report added.

U.S. prosecutors had purported that Adani had met with Indian government officials to further their "bribery scheme." They also alleged that he had offered about $265 million in bribes to "motivate" state-owned electricity distribution companies to purchase solar power from Adani and related companies at above-fair market prices.

Shares in Adani Power fell as much as 2.5% on the back of the news.

— Reuters, Amala Balakrishner

BOJ board member calls for further rise in rates to avoid mounting inflation: Reuters

The Bank of Japan needs to raise interest rates further as keeping them low at current levels could result in excessive risk-taking and higher inflation, the central bank's board member Hajime Takata reportedly said.

"Inflation is approaching the BOJ's 2% target with positive corporate behavior already observed," Takata added.

"It's important to continue shifting gear gradually on monetary policy, even after January's rate hike," as creating expectations that interest rates will stay low for a prolonged period could overheat financial activity, he added.

The Bank of Japan had hiked interest rates by 25 basis points to 0.5% in its meeting on Jan. 24, bringing them to the highest level since 2008. The move came as the central bank seeks to normalize its monetary policy to address sustained inflation levels and rising wages.

— Amala Balakrishner, Reuters

HSBC announces share buyback of up to $2 billion as annual profit jumps 6.5%

Europe's largest lender HSBC on Wednesday announced a share buyback of up to $2 billion as its annual pre-tax profit rose 6.5%, helped by the sale of its banking business in Canada.

For the full year, HSBC reported revenue of $65.85 billion, down from $66.1 billion in 2023.

The bank's profit before tax for the fourth quarter nearly doubled from a year earlier to $2.3 billion — the lender had incurred an impairment charge of $3 billion in fourth quarter last year impacting its performance. Revenue for the reported quarter declined 11% to $2.3 billion.

Read the full story here.

— Lee Ying Shan

SK Hynix, Samsung shares rise on potentially favorable tax credit rates

Shares in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rose as much as 3.16% and 4.29%, respectively, on Wednesday, following developments around South Korea's K Chips Act.

The investment tax credit rate for semiconductor firms could be raised by five percentage points, according to domestic media. The tax credit for large- and medium-sized enterprises will be raised to 20% from 15%, while for small- and medium-sized players its will be raised to 30% from 25%, Business Korea news outlet reported.

It further pointed out that the likes of Samsung Electronics will benefit from the move given that it is currently developing an R&D complex NRD-K at its Giheung Campus.

— Amala Balakrishner

Shares in National Australia Bank tumble over 8% on downbeat earnings

Shares in the National Australia Bank tumbled as much as 8.63% Wednesday after its first-quarter earnings declined on the back of lower margins and higher credit impairments as more borrowers fell behind on repayments.

Australia's biggest business lender reported cash earnings of 1.74 billion Australian dollars ($1.11 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, according to an announcement on Wednesday.

It's cash earnings fell 2% compared with the quarterly average in the second half of last year.

— Amala Balakrishner

China reports a 5% year-on-year fall in new home prices in January

China's new home prices fell 5% year on year in January, narrowing from the 5.3% drop in the previous month, official data released on Wednesday showed.

New home prices were unchanged on a month-on-month basis, indicating that the country's long-standing property market woes largely persist.

— Amala Balakrishner

New Zealand slashes rates for a fourth straight time in bid to boost a slowing economy

New Zealand's central bank on Wednesday slashed benchmark rates by 50 basis points to 3.75%, marking its fourth straight cut, as easing inflation offers the central bank room to boost a sputtering economy.

The move was in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters, and marks the lowest the policy rate since November 2022.

New Zealand reported headline inflation rate of 2.2% in the quarter ended December 2024, with price growth falling for seven of the last eight quarters, according to LSEG data.

Read the full story here.

— Lim Hui Jie

Japan reports January trade deficit of 2.76 trillion yen — its largest in two years

Japan reported a trade deficit of 2.76 trillion yen ($18.2 billion) in January — its largest in two years, data released by the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday shows.

The deficit was more than Reuters estimates of 2.1 trillion yen, and a reversal from the 132 billion yen surplus it logged in the prior month, LSEG data showed.

Imports surged 16.7% to 10.62 trillion yen led by communication machinery and computers, and beat the Reuters' estimate of a 9.7% increase. Exports rose by 7.2% to 7.86 trillion yen, missing Reuters estimates of a 7.9% growth.

— Amala Balakrishner

Meta poised to snap winning streak

Meta is on track to break a weekslong winning streak.

The stock tumbled nearly 4% in Tuesday's session. If that holds through session close, it would mark the megacap technology name's worst day since 2025 began.

That would also snap a 20-day winning streak for the Facebook parent. Despite Tuesday's downturn, the stock is still up more than 21% this year.

— Alex Harring, Adrian van Hauwermeiren

Energy stocks outperform on Tuesday

A strong performance for the energy sector is helping to stem Wall Street's losses elsewhere Tuesday.

The sector was up about 2% in afternoon trading, and none of the other major sectors were up even 1%, according to FactSet.

Halliburton was the top performer, adding 3%. Valero, Texas Pacific Land Corp. and SLB were also up more than 2%.

— Jesse Pound