Japanese stocks rebounded on Monday after upbeat U.S. jobs data suggested the world's biggest economy is in a strong position to sustain an expected Federal Reserve rate hike this month, boosting sentiment in the broader market.
The Nikkei 225 index gained 193.67 points, or 1%, to 19.698.15.
Hong Kong shares ended fractionally lower on Monday led by a tumble in energy heavyweights as investors worried about persistent weakness in oil prices.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dipped 32.67 points, or 0.2%, to 22,203.22.
Last Friday in Vienna, OPEC left its production levels unchanged for the third year in a row despite a global supply glut.
Oil giants CNOOC, PetroChina and Sinopec all fell sharply.
Shares in Citic Securities closed down 1.8%. after China's top brokerage said on Sunday that it was not able to contact two of its top executives.
CITIC's statement, which followed media reports that the executives had been asked by authorities to assist in an investigation, deepened fears of a widening probe into the country's brokerage industry
In Hong Kong, Bank of Jinzhou made its IPO trading debut, becoming the second Chinese bank to do so in as many weeks. It stock traded at HK$4.61 ($0.61 U.S.) during the afternoon session.
Reuters reported that Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday there was no need for further stimulus of implementing negative deposit rates - following in the footsteps of the European Central Bank (ECB) - to spur borrowing. He said the central bank's asset purchases program has already kept borrowing costs low.
Export stocks saw a boost from the slightly weaker yen, with shares in the like of Canon closing up as much as 1.23%.
Takata shares closed down 5.5% after Japan's transport ministry last Friday ordered car-makers to phase out the use of Takata air bag inflators by mid-2018. Large numbers of vehicles were recalled in the U.S. and elsewhere due to faulty Takata-made airbags that resulted in passenger injuries and some deaths.
Blue chip stocks closed in the red, with Samsung Electronics down 0.6%, steel manufacturer Posco down 0.6%, and Kepcoseeing losses of 0.9% Shares in SK Hynix also fell 1.6%
The Australian market saw a modest increase after shedding three weeks' worth of gains last Friday.
The biggest loser in today's Australian trade was the energy sector, seeing a decline of near 4.6 percent on the back of falling oil prices.
Oil producer Santos racked up losses of 9.9%, while rival Woodside Petroleum ditched 3.7%, and Oil Search fell 5.4%.
Among Australian gold plays, shares in Newcrest was up 3%, Evolution Mining up 5%, and Alacer Gold seeing an uptick of 1.5%.
CHINA
Chinese markets traded higher, ahead of a deluge of economic data due this week including trade data, consumer and producer price indexes, industrial production and retail sales.
The CSI 300 in Shanghai regained 10.02 points, or 0.3%, to 3,687.61,
Finance stocks weighed, with brokerages closing lower up to 2.3%. Banking stocks also finished in the red.
Shares in Citic Resources were down 3.5% after the company issued a profit warning, saying it expected a substantial net loss in 2015 due to lower oil prices and decline in sales of commodity-related assets.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index moved ahead 21.87 points, or 0.8 %, to 2,900.92
The Kospi index in Korea dropped 10.73 points, or 0.5%, to 1,963.67
Taiwan’s Taiex index moved ahead 55.67 points, or 0.7%, to 8,454.27
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell 30.39 points, or 0.5%, to 6,064.43
The ASX 200 let go of 76.11 points, or 1.5%, to 5,151.61
