Stocks in Asia were mixed on Wednesday after the and Nasdaq Composite closed at record-high territory overnight on Wall Street.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan declined 0.27% on the day to 22,200.00, while the Topix index shed 0.67% to close at 1,612.05.

In South Korea, the Kospi fell 0.88% to finish its trading day at 2,201.03.

Mainland Chinese shares recovered from their earlier slip to finish higher, with the Shanghai composite rising to 3,201.61 and the Shenzhen component adding around 1.10% to 10,236.27. The Shenzhen composite also advanced 1.10% to 1,747.88.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was 0.57% lower in its final hour of trading.

Australia's added 0.99% to 6,382.10, its highest close in more than a decade.

The day's moves were attributable to a number of possible reasons, according to Daryl Liew, head of portfolio management at Reyl Singapore.

The recent spike in oil prices was "generally seen as negative" for Asian markets, as some are net crude importers, Liew said.

Furthermore, he added, investors could be profit taking given the strong gains year-to-date for most Asian markets, particularly those in China. Concerns also remained over the possibility of the Chinese government scaling back stimulus and refocusing on deleveraging following the better-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter.

The tumbled to $0.7042 following an earlier high of $0.7102 following the release of inflation data Down Under that came in at a record low, raising the prospects of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

Earlier in April, the Australian central bank said interest rates would need to be slashed if "inflation did not move any higher and unemployment trended up."

"Australian inflation shows no signs of coming anywhere near the central point of the RBA's 2-3% range, and we are biting the bullet and changing our 'on-hold' call for the RBA to a cut, possibly as early as the 7 May meeting," Robert Carnell, chief economist and head of Asia Pacific research at ING, wrote in a morning note.