A-share banking sector strengthened intraday; Bank of China, ICBC and Bank of Hangzhou hit intraday record highs, while China Everbright Bank, Ping An Bank, Bank of Beijing and Bank of Communications were among the top gainers.

Poland's central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at 3.75%, in line with market expectations.

The euro slid to its weakest against the pound since June last year as France's deepening fiscal crisis and fresh regional political risk weighed. EUR/GBP fell about 0.4% to 0.8449, breaching this year’s July low. EUR/USD earlier hit a 17-month low and the euro underperformed most G10 currencies on Wednesday. France is facing rising bond-market stress after missing deficit targets, policy deadlock and the prospect of major policy shifts ahead of next year’s presidential election, hitting investor confidence. Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen urged the ECB to intervene to lower rapidly rising government funding costs. Turmoil has spilled into European government bonds after a large sell-off last week reminiscent of the euro-area debt crisis.