Asian equity markets lacked direction Wednesday following a rebound earlier in the week, tracking a muted performance overnight on Wall Street. The Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, -0.18% was down 0.5% as trading kicked off, with large caps succumbing to selling pressure following recent strength. Stocks were higher in Hong Kong though, with the Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.57% up 0.5%.

European stocks continued to rise on Tuesday, with investors encouraged by North Korea's decision not to follow through with its threat to attack U.S. island territory Guam following a war of words between the two nations. The Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, +0.09% advanced 0.1% to close at 376.50, adding to a 1.1% jump from Monday.

The Dow industrials managed to eke out a third day of gains, but overall the main benchmarks ended little changed amid better-then-expected retail sales data and an abatement of tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.02% finished up 5.28 points, or less than 0.1%, at 21,998.99, following a gain of up to 45 points earlier, with shares of Home Depot Inc. HD, -2.65% and Nike Inc. NKE, -2.04% representing the largest decliners, while American Express Co. AXP, +1.54% and Apple Inc. AAPL, +1.09% were the biggest gainers.