06:43 AM EDT, 06/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets were largely higher Wednesday as tech issues strengthened and investors hunted value on Chinese exchanges.

Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo finished in the green, as did most other regional exchanges, except Sydney which fell back after a hot inflation report. Mumbai's Sensex again struck a fresh record high.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened higher and rose to the close, finishing up 1.3% as traders again embraced tech issues while a soft yen boosted export stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 493.92 to 39,667.07 as gaining issues outnumbered losers 127 to 94.

Leading the upside was semiconductor-test equipment maker Advantest, up 7%, while machine-tool manufacturer JTEKT lost 2.2%.

In economic news, the yen traded near 160 to the US dollar, testing fresh 38-year lows against the greenback.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower but edged into the green, finishing up 0.1%

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 17.03 to 18,089.9 as gaining issues outnumbered losers 48 to 31. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 0.9% on the day while the Mainland Properties Index rose 0.1%.

Leading the upside was NetEase, gaining 6.2% after Beijing authorized more online games for play inside China. Knitwear maker Shenzhou International fell 2.4%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.8% to 2,972.53.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 0.6%; the Taiwan TWSE inclined 0.5%; the Australian ASX 200 declined 0.7%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.2%, and the Thai Set was flat. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.6%.