This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific markets rose Tuesday, following an overnight rally in technology shares on Wall Street that saw the S&P500 and Nasdaq Composite post back-to-back gains.

Global semiconductor stocks, including heavyweight Nvidia, climbed Monday after contract electronics giant Foxconn announced record fourth-quarter revenue.

Taiwanese chip manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company hit a fresh high on Tuesday, building on the previous session's gains.

A rally in tech stocks propelled a 1.97% rise in Japan's Nikkei 225, which led gains among its regional peers and closed at 40,083.3. The broad-based Topix gained 1.1% and ended at 2,786.57.

Shares of Nippon Steel fell about 1.52% after the company, along with U.S. Steel, sued the U.S. government over President Joe Biden's decision to block Nippon Steel's $14.9 billion takeover of the U.S company.

South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.14% to 2,492.1, with chip heavyweight Samsung Electronics reversing earlier gains to fall 0.89%. The small-cap Kosdaq was up marginally to close at 718.29.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.34% higher, marking a fourth day of gains and finishing at 8,285.1.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 1.43% in its final hour, while mainland China's CSI 300 was up 0.72% to 3,796.1.

Hong Kong-listed tech stocks are in the spotlight after the U.S. Defense Department added Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings and battery maker CATL to a list of firms it calls "Chinese military companies."

Tencent's Hong Kong-listed shares are currently down almost 8%.

In the U.S., the S&P 500 advanced 0.55% and climbed alongside the Nasdaq, which gained 1.24% on the back of the tech rally.

However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, reversing earlier gains and falling 0.06%.

— CNBC's Pia Singh and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.

Asian tech stocks continue rally, boosted by Wall Street sentiment

Tech stocks in Asia rose Tuesday, mirroring a rally on Wall Street.

Heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company continued climbing to record highs, gaining as much as 3.11% on Tuesday.

Japanese chip-related companies were among the region's largest gainers.

Semiconductor equipment supplier Tokyo Electron saw a gain of over 11% at its peak, while other chip-related counterparts such as Lasertec, Renesas Electronics and Advantest rose over 7%.

Shares of South Korea's Samsung Electronics, a leading supplier of memory chips, rose as much as 2.5%.

— Lim Hui Jie

Arm-owner Softbank climbs 3.5% after Wall Street tech rally overnight

Shares of Japanese investment firm Softbank Group surged as high as 3.57% Tuesday after a tech rally on Wall Street that was fueled by gains in chip heavyweight Nvidia.

Softbank was among the best-performing stocks on the Nikkei 225, according to data from LSEG.

The company owns chip designer Arm, which partners Nvidia and designs chips for companies such as Apple.

The largest gainer on the index was semiconductor testing supplier Advantest, which rose more than 7%.

— Lim Hui Jie

CNBC Pro: Here are Europe's top ETFs that outperformed in 2024 — including some that gained 30%

U.S. stocks ended 2024 on a high, with the S&P 500 finishing last year with gains of over 23%.

While funds tracking the major indices will have logged similar returns, a handful of actively managed ETFs marketed in Europe outperformed, including JPMorgan's US Research Enhanced Index Equity ETF and Invesco's Quantitative Strategies ESG Global Equity Multi-Factor ETF. 

CNBC Pro screened 321 ETFs in Europe that are invested in equities, fixed income, or commodities, and are not leveraged or produced inverse returns.

Two of the ETFs returned 30% last year.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

Oil and gas exploration stocks head for 10th straight advance in longest rally in almost five years

The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF traded higher on Monday, rising as much as 2% intraday, putting the ETF on pace for its 10th straight gain for the first time since April 2020.

The 55-stock XOP is up nearly 10% over the past 10 sessions, its best 10-day period since mid-October 2023. It was recently just up about 0.1%.

The longest rally ever for XOP was an 11-day advance that ended in November 2010. The exchange traded fund now has roughly $2 billion in assets, according to FactSet data. Its five largest positions are Antero Resources, APA Corp., Diamondback Energy, Occidental Petroleum and Coterra Energy.

Although XOP remains below its April 2024 52-week high, the ETF is moving above its 50-day moving average for the first time since early December.

— Scott Schnipper, Nick Wells

Trump reportedly eyes narrower tariff plans, auto stocks jump

President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly planning to narrow his tariff plans to target only certain important sectors, instead of all imports, the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Two weeks before he takes White House, Trump is discussing plans to pare back some of the sweeping, universal tariffs he vowed to implement on the campaign trail, the Post reported. Instead, he is aiming to impose duties on sectors that are viewed critical to national or economic security, the newspaper reported, adding that the discussions are not final.

Shares of automakers jumped in premarket in a relief rally. Ford and General Motors climbed more than 2% each, while Stellantis NV surged 7% in early trading.

— Yun Li

Chip stocks rise on Foxconn's record fourth quarter

Chip stocks rose broadly on Monday after Foxconn reported a record fourth-quarter revenue. Nvidia and Broadcom rose 2% each, while Micron Technology advanced 4.3%. Advanced Micro Devices climbed nearly 3%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) was up 2.5%.

Semiconductors are coming off a banner year, as demand for computing power due to artificial intelligence showed little sign of slowing.

— Fred Imbert