Asia markets traded higher Wednesday morning, tracking U.S. gains as investors digested remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen with markets in Japan ont eh boil as news on Toshiba sent shares sharply lower and SoftBank announced it would buy Fortress Investment.
The Nikkei Stock Average in Japan opened up 0.98 percent, while the Topix traded up 0.91 percent. Across the Korean Strait, the Kospi was down 0.12 percent.
Toshiba shares tumbled 11 percent in early trade. Reuters reported the company said on Tuesday it would book a $6.3 billion hit to its U.S. nuclear unit, a write-down that wipes out its shareholder equity and leaves the company scrambling for capital.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that Toshiba chairman Shigenori Shiga would resign from his post effective Wednesday, while the former chief executive of Toshiba's U.S. nuclear-plant business Westinghouse Electric, Danny Roderick, was stripped of his executive post, the Journal said.
SoftBank shares in Japan rose 0.96 percent after the Japanese company announced a $3.3 billion acquisition of asset manager Fortress Investment Group.
Australia's benchmark ASX 200 climbed in early trade, up 0.86 percent, as most sectors traded higher. The heavily-weighted financial sector was up 1.66 percent, with major banks gaining more than 1 percent each.
Shares of ANZ gained 1.81 percent, Commonwealth Bank of Australia edged higher by 2.19 percent, Westpac added 1.62 percent and the National Australia Bank rose by 1.96 percent.
Major miner BHP Billiton gained 1.07 percent in morning trade.
Reuters reported that striking workers at Chile's massive Escondida copper mine and BHP, which operates the mine, have agreed to renew talks on Wednesday. The mine produced over 1 million tonnes of copper, about 5 percent of the world's total in 2016, according to Reuters. Copper prices fell 1.39 percent to 6,020.85 a tonne.
Yellen said in prepared remarks to Congress said that waiting too long to raise interest rates would be "unwise", given the rise in inflation and economic growth.
Rodrigo Catril, a currency strategist at the National Australia Bank, said in a note the remarks "triggered a sell-off in U.S. Treasury yields and a broad dollar rally as she left the door open for a rate hike as soon as the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting in March."
The dollar climbed against a basket of currencies to trade at 101.22 at 7:09 a.m. HK/SIN on Wednesday, from an earlier session low of 100.70.
Among major currency pairs, the yen weakened slightly against the dollar to trade at 114.33, from an earlier high of 114.19. The euro fetched $1.0575, while the Australian dollar traded at $0.7672.
Some analysts believe the dollar could extend gains as Yellen continues her testimony before Congress on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 92.25 points, or 0.45 percent, to end at 20,504.41. The S&P 500 index gained 9.33 points, or 0.40 percent, to close at 2,337.58, while the Nasdaq advanced 18.62 points, or 0.32 percent, to end at 5,782.57.