Hang Seng rebounds slightly as Asia markets rise; Australia inflation hits highest in 32 years

Chinese onshore and offshore yuan strengthened sharply against the dollar in Asia's afternoon on Wednesday.

Onshore Chinese yuan strengthened to 7.1880 per dollar from hovering around 7.3 levels, while the offshore yuan last traded at 7.2150 against the greenback after trading above 7.25.

–Jihye Lee

Tech stocks listed in Hong Kong popped in morning trade, supporting the broader Hang Seng index.

Meituan surged more than 8% in the morning before trading lower around 4% in its afternoon session. Tencent jumped around 5% before losing some of its gains to trade 2.5% higher. Sensetime also traded 4% higher.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing was up more than 4%.

— Abigail Ng

Hong Kong-listed shares of Standard Chartered were up 4.91% at the start of the afternoon session after reporting an increase in pretax profits in the third quarter.

Statutory profit before taxes grew 40% from a year ago to $1.39 billion, the company's earnings report said.

Net interest income grew to $1.93 billion.

The stock was up 3.37% ahead of the earnings report.

— Abigail Ng

State-owned banks in China sold U.S. dollars in onshore and offshore markets to defend the weakening currency, Reuters reported, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

China's onshore yuan is at weakest levels since late 2007.

Reuters reported that the dollar selling took place in early U.S. trading hours for both markets, citing one person – while another source observed similar moves in the onshore market late on Tuesday in Asia.

The offshore yuan strengthened from around 7.3746 on Tuesday to levels around 7.30 shortly after the reported move – the onshore yuan briefly strengthened from 7.31 to levels around 7.26 before weakening further.

–Jihye Lee

The benchmark Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rallied in the morning session, but was still down around 4% for the week so far and nearly 10% month to date.

On Monday, the index dropped more than 6% following the conclusion of the Communist Party of China's 20th National Congress over the weekend where President Xi Jinping tightened his grip on power.

The HSI was volatile on Tuesday before closing 0.1% lower. It has risen as much as 2.56% on Wednesday.

— Abigail Ng

The Bank of Japan increased the amount of Japanese government bonds it plans to buy as part of the day's regular operations, according to an announcement on its website.

The central bank offered to purchase 150 billion yen ($1.01 billion) of JGBs with a maturity of more than 25 years, up from the planned 100 billion yen. For JGBs with a maturity of between 10-25 years, the bank offered to buy 350 billion yen worth, up from 250 billion yen, the offer notice said.

The BOJ offered to purchase 650 billion yen of JGBs with shorter term maturities of 5 to 10 years as well, compared with the original plan of 550 billion yen.

The Japanese yen continued weakening against the dollar, and last stood at 148.35.

–Jihye Lee

Inflation in Australia accelerated to 7.3% in the third quarter from a year ago, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. That's the fastest rate since December 1990, according to Eikon data.

Prices increased 6.1% in the second quarter, and analysts polled by Reuters expected prices to rise 7% this quarter.

"The past four quarters have seen strong quarterly rises off the back of higher prices for new dwelling construction, automotive fuel and food," the Australian Bureau of Statistics said in its statement.

On a quarterly basis, the consumer price index gained 1.8%, more than the Reuters poll's prediction of a 1.6% increase.

— Abigail Ng

Markets have been volatile, with stocks swinging back to sharp gains last week after steep declines.

Still, there's uncertainty around inflation and interest rate hikes.

Amid the noise, John Petrides, portfolio manager at Tocqueville Asset Management, highlights three plays investors can get into right now.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Asia-Pacific markets rose early in the session, with the Nikkei 225 in Japan gaining 0.86% and the Topix rising 0.76%.

South Korea's Kospi briefly turned negative before gaining 0.22%, while the Kosdaq fell 0.24%.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia rose 0.38%.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan increased 0.13%.

— Abigail Ng

When the S&P 500 is in a bear market, and growth stocks are falling alongside bonds, what should investors do?

Fund manager Brian Arcese spoke to CNBC "Pro Talks", shared his rescue plan and named 3 stocks to own during a recession.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

A Reuters poll of analysts predicted that consumer prices in Australia increased 7% in the third quarter of the year compared to a year ago, after the country saw costs rise 6.1% annually in the previous quarter.

Compared to the previous quarter, Reuters predicts the country's inflation would ease to 1.6% after prices rose 1.8% in the same period previously.

— Abigail Ng

SK Hynix reported third quarter operating profit of 1.66 trillion won ($1.16 billion), missing estimates of 1.87 trillion won.

The company also reported a net profit of 1.1 trillion won — citing a drop in demand and price of memory chips.

The world's second-largest memory chipmaker said it would reduce investment in 2023 by more than 50% annually — adding it would decrease production volume of "less profitable products."

— Abigail Ng

Tuesday's chilled consumer confidence data from The Conference Board is casting doubt on if or by how much the Fed will raise interest rates after November's meeting, according to Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial.

"The Federal Reserve will likely hike rates by 0.75% in November to cool inflationary pressures but the magnitude at the December meeting is a bit of a wild card since strong consumer demand will keep upward pressure on prices," he said following the release on the data. "The biggest risk is the unknown lagged effects from the Fed's cumulative tightening and the economy may not feel the full effects until next year when recession risks are high."

— Alex Harring