SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks in Asia were mixed on Wednesday as investors continued to struggle for direction.

China's Shanghai Composite fell 22.59 points or 0.71 percent to 3,163.67 as Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, heightening geopolitical tensions.

"In the longer term, there will be more frictions between the U.S. and China," Redmond Wong, Greater China market strategist at Saxo Markets in Hong Kong told Reuters news agency Wednesday. "We have already been seeing selling from overseas investors in Chinese equities."

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 147.17 points or 0.53 percent to 27,741.90.

The S&P/NZX 50 in New Zealand surged 172.57 points or 1.50 percent to 11,705.03.

The South Korean Kospi Composite added 21.83 points or 0.89 percent to 2,461.45.

In Australia, the ALL Ordinaries retreated 13.50 points or 0.19 percent to 7,202.90.

In Hong Kong the Hang Seng advanced 63.77 points or 0.40 percent to 19,767.09.

On foreign exchange markets, the euro perked up to 1.0183 by the Sydney close Wednesday. The British pound firmed to 1.2194. The Japanese yen was little changed at 133.13, as was the Swiss franc at 0.9576.

The Canadian dollar traded sideways around 1.2867. The Australian dollar remained in the doldrums at 0.6931. The New Zealand dollar was motionless at 0.6259.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials tumbled 402.23 points or 1.23 percent to 32,396.17.

The Nasdaq Composite dipped 20.32 points or 0.16 percent to 12,348.76.

The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 27.44 points or 0.67 percent to 4,091.19.