Australian shares inched up on Wednesday's close, as investors hope for a de-escalation of US-China trade tensions ahead of talks to be held this week.

The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% or 26.9 points to close at 8,178.3.

The US and China will meet in Switzerland later this week to hold trade talks aimed at easing tensions and de-escalating their ongoing tariff standoff, Bloomberg reported.

"While the optics are reassuring, it's still too early to expect meaningful breakthroughs from the US-China trade talks, given the complexity of negotiations," said Charu Chanana, Chief Investment Strategist for Saxo Markets in Singapore.

On the domestic front, retail payments in Australia via domestic-issued cards rose 1.2% to AU$91 billion in March following a 0.7% increase in February, data from the Reserve Bank of Australia showed.

Australian industrial activity continued to fall in April, with uncertainties related to trade and elections adding more strain to trade-exposed manufacturing industries, Ai Group said in a report.

In company news, Nuix (ASX:NXL) abandoned its annualized contract value target for the current fiscal year to reflect uncertainties surrounding the timing of deal closures. Shares of the company fell past 16% at market close and earlier hit a 13-month low.

National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) said Wednesday cash earnings per diluted share in the fiscal first half rose to AU$1.145 from AU$1.12 per diluted share a year earlier. Shares of the bank rose 2% at market close.

Lastly, Macquarie Group's (ASX:MQG) Macquarie Bank unit is facing additional conditions imposed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) on its Australian financial services license after alleged "multiple and significant" compliance failures, ASIC said in a statement.