SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks in Asia were mixed on Wednesday as higher interest rates continue to unsettle global markets.

"There's a lot going on at the moment," senior Asia economist Carlos Casanova at Swiss private bank UBP told Reuters Wednesday.

"10-year yields are rising, and the U.S. dollar is strong, which is a little bit disruptive for Asian markets as a lot of the currencies apart from the Chinese yuan will depreciate and there will be some outflows on the back of widening real rate differentials."

"Chinese asset classes have been holding up relatively well," he said.

The biggest loser Wednesday was Tokyo's Nikkei 225 which dived 471.45 points or 1.58 percent to 29,302.66.

The Australian All Ordinaries dipped 16.20 points or 0.21 percent to 7,725.50.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 33.92 points or 0.14 percent to 24,685.50.

China's Shanghai Composite climbed 3.61 points or 0.10 percent to close Wednesday at 3,592.70.

The foreign exchange market was quiet, with the dollar holding firm. The euro nudged lower to 1.1242 by the Sydney close Wednesday. The British pound remained soft at 1.3380. The Japanese yen was little changed at 114.97. The Swiss franc was unwanted at 0.9337.

The Canadian dollar was a tad higher at 1.2683. The Australian dollar edged down to 0.7218. The New Zealand dollar was sharply lower at 0.6912.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite trimmed earlier losses in late trade to close down 79.62 points or 0.50 percent at 15,775.14.

The Dow Jones industrials on the other hand rallied hard, rising 194.55 points or 0.55 percent to 35,813.80.

The Standard and Poor's 500 added 7.76 points or 0.17 percent to 4,690.70.