SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian shares took off on Wednesday and sterling held near six-month highs as Britain and the EU made headway on a Brexit deal ahead of a leaders’ summit though it remained unclear if London could avoid postponing its scheduled departure on Oct. 31. A woman holding a sunshade walks past in front of an electric screen showing Japan’s Nikkei share average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, August 5, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato Officials and diplomats involved in negotiations over the acrimonious divorce between the world’s fifth-largest economy and its biggest trading bloc said that differences over the terms of the split had narrowed significantly. The news lit a fire under European and U.S. equities, which jumped about 1% on Tuesday. The British pound GBP=D3 rocketed to $1.28, a level not seen since May 21. It gave back some of those gains on Wednesday to be last at $1.2759. The pound has strengthened nearly 5% over the past week as investors rushed to reprice the prospect of a last-minute Brexit deal before the end-October deadline. The positive sentiment extended on Wednesday with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS lifting 0.3%. Japan’s Nikkei .N225 jumped 1.7%…