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Hong Kong - Asian markets rallied on Monday following a rise in New York at the end of last week, with Tokyo surging almost 4% thanks also to a weaker yen.
But while the gains come as some relief after the ups and downs of last week, traders are nervously watching the release of Chinese economic growth data later in the week for fear of another weak figure.
Tokyo, which ended Friday at a five-month low, raced 3.98% higher in the biggest one-day points gain since June 2013. It added 578.72 points to finish at 15 111.23.
Sydney jumped 0.90% to 5 319.4 and Seoul added 1.55% to 1 930.06.
Shanghai finished 0.66% higher, adding 15.54 points to 2 356.73, and Hong Kong put on 0.20% to end at 23 070.26.
Investors took their lead from Wall Street, where the three main indices saw healthy advances on Friday on bargain-buying and following upbeat earnings reports from General Electric and Morgan Stanley.
The Dow added 1.63%, the S&P 500 jumped 1.29% and the Nasdaq gained 0.97%.
Adding to buying sentiment were comments from officials at the US and British central banks.
On Thursday James Bullard, head of the St Louis branch of the Federal Reserve, suggested it could extend its bond-buying programme rather than winding it down, as had been expected.
And on Friday Bank of England chief economist Andrew Haldane said recent economic weakness implied the need for a slower approach to raising rates.
The two banks have in the past few months been considering raising interest rates as their respective economies have slowly been picking up. However that has spooked traders as other economies, including the eurozone, China and Japan, have been struggling.
There was also support from reports at the weekend that China's central bank plans to inject $32.6bn into the banking system after a recent spate of monetary easing failed to kickstart the Asian economic giant.
On foreign exchange markets the dollar climbed to ¥107.10, compared with ¥106.78 in New York and well up from the ¥106.22 earlier on Friday in Asia.
The euro fetched ¥136.66 against ¥136.28 in US trade, while it was at $1.2768 compared with $1.2759.
However, there are still ongoing worries about the world economy.
Naoki Fujiwara, fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management, said: "Global markets, faced with renewed slowdown fears, are far from stable, and will only recover if and when economic growth data and policy directives are reassuring enough to entice investors out of their current 'risk-off' mode. Stock prices are cheap, but can get cheaper still."
Eyes are now on China, which releases third-quarter gross domestic product data Tuesday. There are expectations for another weak reading following a recent string of underwhelming reports, including on industrial output, inflation and trade.
"There is a broad consensus that growth decelerated to its slowest pace since the Great Recession," said Credit Agricole.
"China activity data, especially Q3 GDP, are unlikely to bring much cheer to nervous markets."
Oil prices enjoyed some more minor gains, although they are still sitting at multi-year lows. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in November climbed 44 cents to $83.19 a barrel in afternoon trade, and Brent crude for December added two cents to $86.18.
Gold was at $1 244.57 an ounce against $1 236.20 late on Friday.
In other markets:
- Bangkok closed down 2.04 points to 1 526.67.
Telecoms company True Corporation fell 3.60% to 10.70 baht, while Kasikorn Bank rose 3.59% to 231.00 baht.
- Jakarta rose 0.23% to close at 5 040.53.
Cement manufacturer Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa gained 3.60% to 23 725 rupiah, while cigarette maker Gudang Garam slipped 2.02% to 59 275 rupiah.
- Kuala Lumpur closed 0.82% higher to end at 1 803.14.
Telekom Malaysia added 0.3% to 6.86 ringgit, while utility Tenaga Nasional rose 0.3% to 12.56. Palm oil giant Sime Darby fell 0.1% to 9.16 ringgit.
- Manila closed 0.78% higher at 7 057.53.
Energy Development jumped 3.97% to 7.60 pesos but Philippine Long Distance Telephone fell 0.31% to 3 172 pesos.
- Taipei advanced 1.77% to 8 663.14.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing closed up 2.02% at Tw$126.0, while Hon Hai Precision Industry gained 4.72% to Tw$93.2.
- Singapore closed 0.42% higher at 3 181.05.
Property developer CapitaLand fell 0.68% to close at Sg$2.94 and Singapore Telecom added 0.82% to finish at Sg$3.68.
- Wellington rose 0.99% to 5 197.89.
Fletcher Building ended up 2.12% at NZ$8.66 and Contact Energy added 1.36% to NZ$5.98.
- Mumbai closed up 1.23% at 26 429.85 points.
- Tata Motors was up 3.94% at 494.50 rupees and Reliance Industries was down 0.39% at 934.50 rupees.
