HONG KONG - Asian stocks advanced Wednesday after Wall Street's main index closed at a fresh record high and Spain's Catalonia crisis eased after an independence leader backed away from plans to break away immediately.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose further a day after its highest close in 21 years, adding 0.3 per cent to 20,886.48. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.9 per cent to 2,456.02 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.1 per cent to 28,5149.27. The Shanghai Composite in mainland China edged up 0.2 per cent to 3,390.49. Australia's S&P/ASX 20 advanced 0.6 per cent to 5,770.10. Shares in Southeast Asia were mostly higher.

GLOBAL OUTLOOK: Sentiment brightened after the International Monetary Fund's raised its latest forecast for global growth to 3.6 per cent for this year and 3.7 per cent in 2018, the fastest rates since 2010. It expects growth to accelerate in the United States, the 19-country Eurozone, Japan and China this year, with a pickup in investment, industrial production and consumer and business confidence underpinning the improved global outlook.

SPANISH TURMOIL: Catalonia's president backed away from plans to immediately break away from Spain following results of a disputed Oct. 1 referendum in favour of the region's independence, easing pressure on the euro. In a speech, regional President Carles Puigdemont said he would delay a declaration of independence for several weeks to give dialogue a chance.

MARKET VIEW: Investors in mainland China and Hong Kong are starting to sit tight ahead of a Communist Party meeting that begins next week, when Beijing is expected to outline policy goals. "There's still lack of momentum to go further, I think, especially with the national congress coming up soon," said Jackson Wong of Huarong International Securities. "There's a lot more waiting than aggressive buying at this point."

US DATA: Markets will be watching for the release of the Federal Reserve's September meeting minutes later in the day for new hints on the U.S. central bank's stance on interest rates, which many analysts expect will be raised one more time by the end of the year. Also on the horizon are the first corporate earnings as the U.S. quarterly reporting season gets underway.

WALL STREET: Major U.S. benchmarks finished on a high note again, with the Dow Jones industrial average gaining 0.3 per cent to a record 22,830.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 added 0.2 per cent to 2,550.64 and the Nasdaq composite picked up 0.1 per cent to 6,587.25.

ENERGY: Oil futures extended gains. Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 16 cents to $51.08 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added $1.34, or 2.7 per cent, to settle at $50.92 a barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 12 cents to $56.73 a barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 112.40 yen from 112.44 yen in late trading Tuesday. The euro was up to $1.1814 from $1.1808 after hitting an intraday high of $1.1829 following Puigdemont's speech.

News from © The Associated Press, 2017