Asia-Pacific markets opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight gains in U.S. stocks, as oil prices fell amid rising hopes of a diplomatic solution to the Middle East conflict.
A White House official told CNBC on Tuesday that a second round of negotiations between Washington and Tehran was under discussion. Nothing has been officially scheduled yet, the official said, who asked not to be named to discuss the administration's internal plans.
"We've been called by the other side," President Donald Trump said Monday. "They'd like to make a deal very badly, he added.
The West Texas Intermediate was down 0.32% at $90.69 per barrel as of 8:00 p.m. ET. Brent crude fell 0.28% to $94.52 per barrel.
South Korea's Kospi advanced nearly 3% while the small-cap Kosdaq gained 1.65%. Japan's Nikkei 225 was 0.72%, while the Topix rose 0.87%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.42%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 26,145, compared with the index's last close of 25,872.32.
Futures tied to the broad market index and Nasdaq 100 futures were last trading marginally lower. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 17 points, or less than 0.1%.
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 1.18%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.96%, while the blue-chip Dow advanced 317.74 points, or 0.66%.
The S&P 500 is nearing its all-time high of 7,002.28, reached on Jan. 28.
â CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han and Jeff Cox contributed to this report.
