Shanghai-listed shares ended sharply higher Tuesday, overcoming the volatility in early trading and shrugging off data which showed that the country's inflation rose to its highest level in more than 11 years.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose 122.51 points, or 0.90 percent, to 13,757.91 as investors bought shares of import-export companies on higher commodity prices. Itochu rose 7.9 percent, and Mitsubishi Corp. gained 4.4 percent.
Japanese banking issues also gained on news that Qatar began building a stake in Credit Suisse Group in January as part of a strategy to buy US$15 billion worth of Western banking stocks this year.
Mizuho Financial Group jumped 5.4 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group climbed 3.7 percent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 363.92 points, or 1.53 percent, to 24,123.17. The index lost 1.6 percent on Monday after adding nearly 7 percent over the previous four sessions.
Elsewhere:
South Korea's Kospi finished 1.4% higher at 1,720.52.
Taiwan's Weighted index advanced 1.7% to 8,024.41.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index rose 0.2% to 3,609.41.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 also ended 1.1% at 5,619.10, as investors looked for bargains in banking shares after a steep fall Monday.
with files from other wire services
