Asia stocks traded higher on Monday, but several major markets were set to be shuttered for much of the week.
The Nikkei 225 index strengthened 44.5 points or 0.2%, to 20,400.78
Several markets, including South Korea and China, are shut this week for public holidays.
Shares of Japanese automaker Nissan closed down 2.7% after it said on Friday that it was not able to sell some of its new vehicles because certain checks in the final vehicle inspection process were conducted by unqualified technicians.
Prior to market open, the Bank of Japan released the results of its "Tankan" survey that showed business confidence among large manufacturers in Japan improved in the three months from the previous survey in June. The headline number stood at plus 22 in the September survey, compared with June's plus 17. But the reading is expected to fall to plus 19 over the next three months.
The numbers are derived from taking the difference between those who find business conditions favorable and those who find it unfavorable. A positive reading indicates more businesses find conditions to be favorable.
Major banking shares climbed, with ANZ closing up 1%, Commonwealth Bank higher by 1.5% Westpac up 1.1%and the National Australia Bank advancing 0.7%.
The Japanese yen was at 112.86 per U.S. dollar, with the greenback climbing from levels as low as 112.43 earlier in the session.
The Australian dollar also lost ground against the greenback, trading at $0.7818, off an earlier session high of $0.7847.
In other markets
In Taiwan, the Taiex index gained 81.22 points, or 0.8%, to 10,465.16
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index jumped 42.19 points, or 1.3%, to 3,262.10
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 docked 1.5 points to 7,928.89
In Australia, the ASX 200 added 47.72 points, or 0.8%, to 5,729.33
