• Asian shares fell on Wednesday as a rise in U.S. bond yields above 3 percent and warnings from bellwether U.S. companies of higher costs drove fears that a boom in corporate earnings may be near its peak.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS dropped 0.3 percent, hitting their weakest in almost three weeks, with tech-heavy Taiwan shares .TWII slipping to two-month lows on worries about slowing semi-conductor demand. Japan's Nikkei .N225 dropped 0.2 percent.

• Japanese stocks slipped on Wednesday as weakness on Wall Street soured risk sentiment, while the spotlight fell on Takeda Pharmaceutical which stumbled after it sweetened its takeover bid for Shire to 46 billion pounds ($64 billion).

The Nikkei ended 0.3 percent lower to 22,215.32.

Takeda dived 7.0 percent as investors fretted about its ability to finance the cash and stock deal.

• China stocks closed down on Wednesday as gains in healthcare firms were offset by losses in real estate and energy shares.

Sentiment was also curbed by losses on the Wall Street where high bond yields triggered risk aversion.

The blue-chip CSI300 index closed down 0.4 percent at 3,828.70 while the Shanghai Composite Index also fell 0.4 percent to 3,117.97 points.