06:54 AM EDT, 09/24/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets churned on Wednesday with China-exposed exchanges and Tokyo rallying on strong tech issues, while other trading floors largely slipped.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened lower on overnight Wall Street cues but rose to the close, finishing up 0.3% as tech shares surged on renewed optimism regarding the AI sector.

Tech-financier SoftBank shares jumped 6% after OpenAI, Oracle (ORCL), and SoftBank announced that five new US AI data-center sites are planned, adding to plants already underway.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 136.65 to 45,630.31, striking a fresh all-time record high, although losing issues outnumbered gainers 121 to 100.

Leading the upside was heavy-equipment maker IHI, rising 9.7%, while utility giant Tokyo Electric power fell 4.9%.

In economic news, the flash Japan composite purchasing managers index (PMI), a combination of the nation's manufacturing and service sectors, slipped to 51.1 in September from 52.0 August, but remained above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction, reported S&P Global.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened evenly and rallied thereafter, closing up 1.4% after e-commerce colossus Alibaba (BABA) released a new more-powerful AI model, dubbed Qwen3-Max, on the heels of disclosing plans for $50 billion of investment into AI.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 359.53 to 26,518.65, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 49 to 36. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 2.5% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 0.5%.

Leading the upside was Alibaba, gaining 9.2%, while toymaker Pop Mart International declined 2%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.8% to 3,853.64.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI fell 0.4%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 0.2%; the Australian ASX 200 declined 0.9%; the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.3%, and the Thai Set inclined 0.4%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was down 0.5%.