Alibaba, Japan PMI, Australian PMI, Japanese Trade

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose more than 3% on Wednesday, boosted by technology stocks as most other Asia-Pacific markets fell.

The Hang Seng Tech Index rose more than 4% as Alibaba shares rose, before paring some gains. The shares of the Chinese technology giant jumped as much as 6.57% after its founder, Jack Ma, bought $50 million of Alibaba shares listed in Hong Kong.

The CSI 300 index in mainland China rose 1.40%, extending gains from Tuesday and closed at 3,277.1. Immediately after the markets closed, the Governor of the People's Bank of China said that the central bank will reduce the reserve requirement ratio for financial institutions by 50 basis points.

Elsewhere, Japan's exports in December exceeded expectations, with its trade balance achieving a surplus of $62.1 billion compared to a deficit of $122.1 billion expected in a Reuters poll of economists. This data comes a day after the Bank of Japan left its monetary policy unchanged.

Australian PMI surveys from Juno Bank showed an expansion in manufacturing activity in January after 11 straight months of contraction. Business activity in the country also saw a less severe contraction in January compared to December.

in Australia, Standard & Poor's/ASX 200 The index rose marginally after the announcement and ended at 7,519.2, recording four consecutive days of gains.

Japan Nikki 225 The Topix fell 0.8% to 36,226.48, extending losses from Tuesday, while the Topix fell 0.51% to close at 2,529.22.

South Korea Cosby It fell 0.36% to 2,469.69, with heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix recording the biggest losses among the 10 largest stocks on the benchmark index. The Kosdaq small-cap index also fell by 0.46% to close at 836.21.

overnight in the United States, Standard & Poor's 500 It rose 0.29% to hit a new all-time high of 4,864.60, as traders took stock of the latest batch of corporate earnings.

Heavy technology Nasdaq Composite Advance by 0.43%, but the leading stocks Dow Jones Industrial Average The index snapped a three-day winning streak and fell 0.25%, falling below the 38,000 level that was crossed for the first time on Monday.

— CNBC's Sarah Main and Alex Haring contributed to this report.