Investing.com - Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday with China taking a lead with house price data suporting sentiment.
Average new house prices in China's 70 major cities rose 12.4% in December from a year earlier, slowing slightly from a 12.6% increase in November.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.27%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.18%.
The Nikkei 225 was mostly flat, while the S&P/Asx 200 fell 0.46%.
Toshiba jumped 2.02%, after the Nikkei financial daily reported that Toshiba was considering spinning off its semiconductor business and selling a partial stake in the unit to Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC).
South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.21%, as the country grapples with a political scandal that has led to the impeachment by parliament of President Park Geun-hye and implicated the country's largest conglomerate's chief.
Samsung Group chief Jay. Y. Lee has arrived in court in Seoul on an arrest warrant issued by a special prosecutor over allegations he bribed President Park Geun-hye and one of her confidants in exchange for political favors. Samsung Electronics (KS:005930) was up 0.22%, while Samsung C&T slipped 1.6%.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Financials, Industrials and Healthcare sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.30%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.30%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.63%.