The Nikkei 225 Average (JP:1804610: news, chart, profile) finished the day up 1.24% to 15,656.59 as blue-chip exporters such as Toshiba Corp. staged a dramatic comeback.

Before closing at its highest level in over two months, the Nikkei had been down by more than 1%.

Tokyo's Topix index finished up 1% to 1,578.43.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rallied late, gaining 1.75% to close at 17,346.58 as market heavyweight China Mobile surged late in the day.

In South Korea, the Kospi index finished up 0.29%.

The Japanese government said mid-day Wednesday that core private-sector machinery orders, an indicator of corporate investment, increased 8.5% in June compared to May, and 17.7% on year. Both numbers vastly exceeded expectations.

"It shows that the industrial part of the economy's in very good health, particularly the export side of the economy," said Marc Desmidt, head of large-cap equities at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in Tokyo.

Ben Kwong, an analyst at KGI Securities in Hong Kong, said the U.S. Federal Reserve Board's decision Tuesday to leave interest rates unchanged boosted investor confidence.

"The correction pressure isn't that great because interest rate worries are allayed for the time being," said Kwong, though he added that "it's still unclear whether the interest rate has peaked."

Miners including BHP Billiton

and Rio Tinto led Australia's S&P/ASX 200 down 1.25%.

Shanghai's Composite index finished the day down 0.1%, while Taiwan's Weighted index gained 1.09%.

In afternoon trading, India's Sensex was up 1.33% and Indonesia's Jakarta Composite was up 0.78%.