Asian markets end higher on Wednesday

Asian equity markets ended higher on Wednesday, with sentiment bolstered by a weak yen, an overnight rally in oil prices and upbeat Chinese trade data. Chinese and Hong Kong shares ended higher, as upbeat trade figures out of China coming in before Friday's release of first-quarter GDP data raised hopes that China's slowdown might not be quite as severe as initially feared. While Chinese exports grew 18.7 percent year-over-year in March in yuan terms, the fastest pace of growth since February 2015, the contraction in imports slowed to 1.7 percent, beating expectations by a wide margin after an 8 percent decline in the previous month. Japanese shares hit a fresh 1-1/2 week high as the yen slid from recent peaks against the dollar and Chinese trade data smoothened growth worries. Markets in South Korea were shut for a public holiday.