Mumbai, Dec. 17 -- Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday after two days of losses. Investors digested mixed U.S. employment data and looked ahead to Thursday's inflation data for fresh insights into the U.S. economic and rate outlook.

The dollar edged up from 2-1/2-month lows in Asian trade and Treasuries trimmed recent gains while gold held firm around $4,320 per ounce.

Oil prices jumped more than 1 percent after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was ordering a "total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers" going into and leaving Venezuela.

Chinese and Hong Kong stocks rose sharply, with technology stocks leading the surge. China's Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.2 percent to 3,870.28 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index...