Stocks in Asia-Pacific rose on Tuesday following an overnight jump on Wall Street.
The Nikkei 225 galloped 271.12 points, or 1%, to 28,362.17.
The Japanese government is reportedly set to extend the state of emergency covering Tokyo and other regions till March 7 in order to contain the coronavirus.
The Japanese yen traded at 105 per dollar, weaker than levels below 104 against the greenback seen last week.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong progressed 355.84 points, or 1.2%, to 29,248.70.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on Tuesday announced its decision to maintain its cash rate at 0.1% as well as purchase an additional 100 billion Australian dollars of bonds (approx. $76.32 billion).
In a statement, RBA Governor Philip Lowe said: "The Board will not increase the cash rate until actual inflation is sustainably within the 2% to 3% target range.
"For this to occur, wages growth will have to be materially higher than it is currently. This will require significant gains in employment and a return to a tight labour market," Lowe said. "The Board does not expect these conditions to be met until 2024 at the earliest."
Following that announcement, the Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7606, after seeing an earlier high of $0.7661.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 added 83.44 points, or 1.5%, to 5,501.09.
In Korea, the Kospi index gained 40.28 points, or 1.3%, to 3,096.81
In Singapore, the Straits Times recovered 20.97 points, or 0.7%, to 2,917.29
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index triumphed 349.86 points, or 2.3%, to 15,760.05
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 slumped 52.75 points, or 0.4%, to 13,044.50.
In Australia, the ASX 200 hiked 99.64 points, or 1.5%, to 6,762.50.
