Asia stocks higher following overnight Wall Street gains

The Nikkei 225 in Japan added 0.39% in early trade as shares of index heavyweights Fast Retailing, Softbank Group and Fanuc gained. The Topix also rose 0.31% as most sectors advanced.

In South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.13% as automaker Hyundai Motor’s stock rose 0.79%. Over in Australia, the ASX 200 edged up in early trade.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 197.43 points to close at 25,877.33. The S&P 500 added 0.9% to end the trading day at 2,864.36, while the Nasdaq Composite closed 1.1% higher at 7,785.72.

The moves came after the U.S. temporarily backed off on restrictions on Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

The Commerce Department said Monday night it would allow Huawei to purchase American-made goods in order to maintain existing networks and provide software updates to existing Huawei handsets until Aug. 19. The move sought to minimize disruption for the telecom company’s customers around the world. The initial restrictions worried investors that the ongoing U.S.-China trade war was intensifying.

Yet, tensions continue to remain between the two economic powerhouses.

Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled there would be no end to the trade war in the near future. China’s ambassador to the U.S. also told Fox News on Tuesday that Washington “changes its mind so often ” in the trade negotiations.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 98.020 after seeing highs around 98.1 yesterday.

The Japanese yen traded at 110.54 against the dollar after weakening from levels around 110.0 in the previous session. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6881 after dropping from highs above $0.690 yesterday after the country’s central bank governor said an interest rate cut will be considered in June.

Oil prices declined in the morning of Asian trading hours, with the international benchmark Brent crude futures contract slipping 0.43% to $71.87 per barrel. The U.S. crude futures contract also fell 0.6% to $62.75 per barrel.

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.