Shanghai closed up 1.2 percent and Hong Kong advanced 0.7 percent after both markets surged more than four percent on Tuesday following a slew of Chinese interest-rate cuts this week.

Wall Street's main indexes moved in different directions in morning deals, with the Dow falling while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained and broad-based S&500 edged higher.

Both the Dow and S&P 500 finished at records on Tuesday.

London, Paris and Frankfurt stock markets dipped in afternoon trading.

Oil prices retreated after strong gains Tuesday.

"We've had consecutive days of a run-up and I think it's expected that the market takes a bit of a pause here," said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital.

China's central bank on Wednesday announced a cut to its medium-term lending facility, the interest for one-year loans to financial institutions.

That came one day after the country unveiled some of its boldest measures in years to support an economy battered by a long-running debt crisis in the property sector and weak consumer spending.

"The problem is, the stimulus measures will take time to show in the economic data," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, adding that the actions "won't do much to fix the country's deepest issues" including a heavy debt burden.

Separately, the OECD called Wednesday for higher property taxes to fight an indebted global economy, which it said should grow slightly stronger than expected this year.

Traders were awaiting the release Friday of the US personal consumption expenditures index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric, hoping for an idea about its next move on interest rates.

The Fed's jumbo rate cut last week ramped up hopes that it would embark on a series of reductions as prices rise at a less heated pace and the American jobs market slows.

Officials are expected to continue easing policy to 2026, according to the US central bank's "dot plot" guidance on rates released last week.

The prospect of more cuts helped haven investment gold hit a new peak of $2,670.57 an ounce Wednesday, with the precious metal gaining also on geopolitical unrest, notably in the Middle East, according to analysts.