Nikkei 225 leads Asian stocks advance

The stocks on the Asian bourses traded firmer so far this session, with a rally in the Japanese stocks driving rest of Asia into green territory, while the Asian indices also tracked its Wall Street counterparts higher.

The sentiment around the region’s energy sector stocks were lifted amid reports that the US President Trump signed orders late-Tuesday clearing the path for the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines.

The Japanese stock advanced on the back of upbeat trade balance data, which showed that Japan returned to trade surplus for the first in six years in 2016. Moreover, a solid rebound staged by Takata, Japanese airbag maker, shares of which jumped over 18%, having fallen 40% a week ago.

The Australian stocks traded with moderate gains on heightened odds of A RBA rate cut, following the release of worse-than expected Aus CPI figures. Australia's Q4 CPI: All figures miss expectations

The Japanese benchmark, the Nikkei 225 index rallies +1.12% to 18,998. The Australian benchmark, ASX 200 index rises 0.34% to 5,670 points. Mainland Chinese markets tick higher, with both Shanghai composite and Shenzhen’s CSI 300 index gaining +0.23% and +0.27% respectively. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gains +0.11% to 22,975.