Major stock markets in Asia closed mixed on Wednesday, as investors awaited the start of U.S.-China trade talks later in the day stateside.

The mainland Chinese markets slipped back into negative territory — after an earlier recovery — to end their trading day lower. The Shanghai composite slipped about 0.72 percent to 2,575.58 while the Shenzhen component fell 1.070 percent to 7,470.47. The Shenzhen composite also declined 1.279 percent to 1,283.71.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was higher by about 0.1 percent, as of its final hour of trading, as shares of Chinese tech giant Tencent declined 0.29 percent.

Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.52 percent to close at 20,556.54 while the Topix fell 0.41 percent to finish its trading day at 1,550.76.

South Korea's Kospi, on the other hand, advanced 1.05 percent to close at 2,206.20 as shares of LG Display dropped 3.66 percent after the company said its panel shipments for the first quarter were expected to decrease due to seasonally weak demand.

Australia's gained 0.21 percent to close at 5,886.70 as the materials subindex rose 2.14 percent, with shares of Australia's major miners gaining. Rio Tinto jumped 4.51 percent, Fortescue Metals Group soared 7.75 percent and BHP Billiton advanced 2.55 percent.

The moves Down Under came after the country's headline consumer price index rose above expectations, though core inflation remained below the central bank's target. Following that, the Australian dollar was at $0.7191 after seeing an earlier low of $0.7147.