According to HKET, Sina Finance and Ming Pao, Asian equities were mostly firmer at midday, with semiconductor and optical-communication names leading gains as investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate decision and spot gold traded back above $4,300 an ounce. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 turned higher in the afternoon session, up 335.03 points, or 0.53%, at 63,819.13 as of 04:33 UTC. Chip-equipment makers advanced, with Tokyo Electron up 1.36% at 51,340 and Advantest up 1.26% at 30,540, while Sony eased 0.32%. Seoul's KOSPI added 81.78 points, or 1.23%, to 6,709.04 as of 04:33 UTC, supported by chipmakers. Samsung Electronics rose 1.91% to 253,250 won and SK Hynix gained 2.96% to 1,740,000 won. Hong Kong stocks were little changed by the midday break, with the Hang Seng Index up 30.11 points, or 0.12%, at 24,697.35 on turnover of HK$95.65 billion; the Hang Seng Tech Index rose 0.87% to 4,328. Lenovo climbed about 7% and SMIC about 5%, Zhongji Innolight advanced more than 8% and Zhipu ended an 11-session losing streak with a gain of over 8%, while CATL fell more than 3%, Tencent slipped 0.9% and Alibaba eased 0.4%. Taiwan's TAIEX rose 372.76 points, or 0.82%, to 45,884.25 as of 04:33 UTC, led by optical and DRAM names. MediaTek gained 3.84% to NT$4,600 and Largan advanced more than 5%, while TSMC edged up 0.21% to NT$2,390 after completing its dividend ex-date fill. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.57% to 3,886.48 at the midday close, the Shenzhen Component gained 1.42% to 13,476.85 and the ChiNext Index rose 2.35% to 3,324.36, with the STAR 50 up 4.50% at 1,621.75 as semiconductor-materials and optical-fiber shares led broad gains.