Stock market today: Asian shares gain after Wall Street ticks higher amid rate-cut hopes

Asian shares mostly advanced on Wednesday after Wall Street ticked higher amid hopes that Japan’s moves to keep interest rates easy for investors could augur similar trends in the rest of the world.

U.S. futures rose while oil prices were virtually unchanged after two days of gains.

Building on gains from Tuesday, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index surged 1.4% to reach 33,675.94 despite Japan experiencing a slight decline in its export performance for the first time in three months in November, a worrisome slowdown for the world's third-largest economy.

Exports to China, Japan's biggest single market, fell 2.2%, while shipments to the U.S. rose 5.3% from a year earlier. Total imports fell nearly 12%.