Japanese stocks posted the biggest daily percentage gain in two and a half months on Wednesday, with sentiment helped by broad gains on Wall Street before an expected rise in U.S. interest rates later in the day.
The Nikkei 225 index rebounded 484.01 points, or 2.6%, to 19,049.91
Hong Kong's main stock index posted its best daily performance in a month with a major gain on Wednesday, breaking a nine-session losing streak as energy shares surged.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong recovered 426.84 points, or 2%, to 21,701.21
China's top three oil giants PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC jumped after the Chinese government said it would "postpone" expected cuts in retail petrol and diesel prices.
The government said the decision was aimed at restraining oil consumption and spurring environmental protection, but some analysts said the real purpose was to support refiners' profitability.
Stocks rose across the board, with an index tracking energy shares leading gains, up 4.4%
Prada shares dropped 7% after the luxury goods maker reported a slump in its profit, weighed by falling sales in the Greater China region. The company's profit declined 38% on-year in the quarter ended October 31.
In Japan, finance play Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group was up 4.2%, SMFG rose 3.2% and Mizuho Financial Group gained 5.1%.
SMFG, Japan's second largest bank by revenue, announced on Tuesday it concluded an agreement with General Electric to buy the latter's leasing business in Japan for 575 billion yen ($4.8 billion U.S.).
Export plays Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and Sony were up, some as much as 4.5%
The yen traded lower at 121.87 against the U.S. dollar.
Blue-chip stocks finished higher with shares in Samsung Electronics up 1.7%, Posco up 2.5%, Kepco up 0.3%, Hyundai Motor up 1% and KB Financial Group up 1.8%
Samsung Engineering shares closed up around 10.7% after the company said it expects further profits in 2016.
Banking stocks closed higher, with shares in Australia's four biggest banks - ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac, and NAB - up as much as 2.9%.
Shares in the country's two biggest miners, Rio Tinto climbed 3%, while and BHP Billiton, finished 5.6%
CHINA
The CSI 300 in Shanghai slid 8.95 points, or 0.2%, to 3,685.44
Before trading began, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the yuan mid-point at 6.4626, up from the previous session's fix of 6.4610.
The yuan traded flat at 6.4604 against the U.S. dollar.
Chinese energy plays also ended higher. Shares in China Petroleum were up 2.3%, while PetroChina was up 1.1% and China Oilfield rose 0.9%.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index gained 25.4 points, or 0.9%, to 2,840.92
The Kospi index in Korea moved up 36.43 points, or 1.9%, to 1,969.40
Taiwan’s Taiex index climbed 111.31 points, or 1.4%, to 8,184.66
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 jumped 30.39 points, or 0.5%, to 6,070.94
The ASX 200 hiked 118.89 points, or 2.4%, to 5,028.45
