The Hang Seng Tech index, which tracks the some of the largest mainland Chinese technology companies listed in Hong Kong, rose over 2% to lead the rally among Asia-Pacific markets on Wednesday.

The top performer on the index was Tencent Music Entertainment, which surged over 14% as of 1:52 p.m. local time (1:52 a.m. ET).

Other top movers included Sunny Optical Technology Group, which rose more than 5%. Bilibili jumped 4.77%, while Alibaba traded 4.46% higher.

—Lee Ying Shan

Tencent Music Entertainment Group rose 16% Wednesday, a day after the company beat estimates for second-quarter revenue and profit on robust subscriber growth in its online music services.

The company reported revenue of 8.44 billion Chinese yuan ($1.18 billion), up by about 18% from the same period last year. The lion’s share of the revenue came from the company’s online music services, which grew by over 26%.

Net profit attributable to shareholders reached 2.57 billion yuan, representing a 37.4% year-over-year jump.

A Reuters poll had estimated revenue at 7.98 billion yuan and profit at 2.29 billion yuan.

“While our music subscription business remained a core growth driver, our expanding suite of music-related services—including advertising, concerts, and artist merchandise—showed impressive momentum,” said Cussion Pang, executive chairman at the company.

— Dylan Butts

Chinese and Hong Kong stocks rose Wednesday. As of 9:45 a.m. local time (9:45 p.m. ET Tuesday), the Hang Seng Index rose 1%, while mainland’s CSI 300 added 0.33%.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose to the highest intraday level since December 2021, data from LSEG showed.

— Lee Ying Shan

Japan’s blue-chip Nikkei 225 extended its gains and hit a fresh record high Wednesday.

Among the index’s top movers are Yokohama Rubber, which gained 10% and Renesas Electronics, which rose over 7%. Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings jumped 5.26%.

“Recent Japanese asset appreciation reflects positive steps the government is taking to improve capital markets and corporate governance, especially corporate sensitivity to equity values,” said Fitch Solutions’ analysts.

If the Liberal Democratic Party remains on its positive policy trajectory in terms of opening its domestic market to greater foreign investment and more foreign workers, “the effort to escape deflation” will continue to make headway, the research firm said.

—Lee Ying Shan

Asia-Pacific markets opened higher Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark rose 1% after hitting a record high Tuesday, while the broader Topix index added 0.72%, as of 8:02 a.m. Singapore time (8:02 p.m. ET Tuesday).

In South Korea, the Kospi index advanced 1.07%, while the small-cap Kosdaq increased by 0.88%.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.29%.

— Lee Ying Shan

Happy mid-week from Singapore. Asia markets are set for a mostly higher open.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 43,325, while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 43,280, against the index’s last close of 42,718.17.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index  stood at 25,144, pointing to a higher open compared with the HSI’s last close of 24,969.68.

However, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was set to start the day lower with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,852, compared with the index’s last close of 8,880.8.

— Lee Ying Shan

The S&P 500 rose 0.8% on Tuesday to hit a new intraday high.

During the session, the S&P 500 surpassed its prior high from July 31. A closing high would be the S&P’s 16th of the year.

Earlier in the morning, the Nasdaq Composite also hit a new intraday high. A record close would be the benchmark’s 19th of the year.

— Nick Wells, Lisa Kailai Han