06:38 AM EDT, 09/17/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets turned in a choppy performance on Wednesday, with Japan easing from record highs, but China-exposed exchanges rising on rallies in the tech sector.

Hong Kong and Shanghai gained, but Tokyo edged lower. Other regional exchanges were mixed on the downside.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 finished down 0.2% as traders booked profits after four trading days in the green, and with the benchmark index tracking near all-time highs.

The Nikkei 225 fell 111.89 to 44,790.38, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 164 to 58.

Leading the upside was semiconductor fabrication equipment maker Tokyo Electron, up 5.4%, while chipmaker Socionext fell 4.8%.

In economic news, Japan's exports in August decreased by 0.1% year-over-year, while imports decreased by 5.2%, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened higher and rose to the close, ending up 1.8% as traders embraced tech and AI issues.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 469.88 to 26,908.39, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 60 to 25. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 4.2% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 1.1%.

Leading the upside was search engine giant Baidu, up 15.7% after Arete Research Services switched its rating to buy from sell, and Goldman Sachs analysts said Baidu's AI model might surpass that of DeepSeek's, reported the South China Morning Post.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4% to 3,876.34

On the other regional exchanges, the South Korean KOSPI fell 1.1%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 0.8%; the Australian ASX 200 declined 0.7%; the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.3%, and the Thai Set declined 0.1%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.4%