Hong Kong stocks were lifted by hopes of a Sino-US trade deal on Wednesday after an announcement that Tokyo had struck a deal for lower tariffs with Washington.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index ended 408 points, or 1.62 percent, up at close at 25,538.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 1.82 percent to end at 9,241 while the Hang Seng Tech Index rose 2.48 percent to 5,745.

The gains came as the Commerce Ministry in Beijing announced that Vice Premier He Lifeng would visit Sweden from July 27-30 to hold economic and trade talks with US officials.

Trading on the mainland ended up being mixed and much more subdued.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.01 percent to 3,582 while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.37 percent down at 11,059.

Their combined turnover was more than 1.86 trillion yuan, down from 1.89 trillion yuan on Tuesday.

Stocks related to aesthetic medicine, new medicine and insurance led gains while stocks related to cement and building materials and power grids suffered major losses.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.01 percent to close at 2,310.

In Tokyo, news of the Japanese-US tariff deal saw the benchmark Nikkei stock index climbing almost 4 percent to its highest in a year, led by stocks in automakers with gains of more than 14 percent for Toyota and nearly 11 percent for Honda. (Reuters/Xinhua)