Asian stocks were mostly higher Wednesday as traders mirrored overnight gains on Wall Street during another busy earnings week.

The Kospi in South Korea advanced 0.9% to 3,264.78 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 1.5% to 26,589.87. The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.3% to 3,458.31.

Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 kinraideena was also 0.3% higher at 7,497.40. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 0.1% to 27,612.29, however.

Shares edged higher in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines but fell in Malaysia.

Traders are awaiting U.S. jobs data due Friday. They are also watching the coronavirus' delta variant spreading in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and particularly in China.

Although China's recent outbreak is small, infecting hundreds rather than the thousands and tens of thousands of people sickened in outbreaks elsewhere, it is by far the worst China has had since the pandemic's emergence in the central city of Wuhan a year and a half ago.

“The small but significant rise in cases in China is grabbing attention,” Robert Carnell of ING said in a note.

“Tough restrictions on movement and travel already in place will likely bring the desired results. But the delta variant is a particularly slippery little critter, and the concern for us, and we imagine, many others, is how quickly this will occur, and at what economic cost in the meantime,” he said.