Most Asian stocks rose on Tuesday after crude prices rebounded on news of a sharp drop in output in Kuwait due to an oil worker strike following the government's move to cut wages.
Commodity currencies rose and the safe-haven yen weakened after U.S. stocks shrugged off oil weakness to close at their best levels in several months overnight.
Brent crude futures for June delivery were last up 0.84 percent at $43.23 a barrel and WTI crude prices were up about half a percent at $40 a barrel, as the strike in Kuwait that slashed more than half the country's oil output offset concerns over the failed Doha Deal.
China's Shanghai Composite index rose 9.16 points or 0.30 percent to 3,042.82 after the People's Bank of China reportedly pumped 162.5 billion yuan into 18 financial institutions in open market operations via medium-term lending facility.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 274.71 points or 1.30 percent to 21,436.21, led by energy shares. Index heavyweight HSBC Holdings advanced 3.7 percent after Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver told shareholders in Hong Kong the bank would seek approval for a share buyback at its annual general meeting in London on Friday.
Japanese shares retraced the previous day's steep losses as investors speculated the central bank will boost stimulus to combat the economic fallout from Thursday's earthquake in Kumamoto and subsequent aftershocks in southwestern Japan.
The dollar rose above the key 109 level against the yen as New York Fed President William Dudley called U.S. economic news "mostly favorable" and cited improvement in Europe's growth outlook.
The Nikkei average rallied 598.49 points or 3.68 percent to 16,874.44, erasing the previous day's 3.4 percent loss. The broader Topix index climbed 3.25 percent to finish at 1,363.03. Honda Motor, Sony, Toyota and Renesas Electronics climbed 4-7 percent as concerns eased about the fallout from recent earthquakes.
Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing jumped 6.4 percent, oil & gas explorer Inpex Corp advanced 2.7 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Japan's largest bank, added 6.7 percent.
Australian shares hit a three-month high, led by resource stocks after crude prices ended only fractionally lower overnight despite the failed Doha deal.
Meanwhile, the minutes from the RBA' s April 5 meeting showed that members are in no hurry to cut interest rates despite growing discomfort with the value of the Australian dollar.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 climbed 49.50 points or 0.96 percent to 5,186.60 and the broader All Ordinaries index closed 49.80 points or 0.96 percent higher at 5,254.70.
Woodside Petroleum, Santos and Origin Energy jumped 4- 6 percent while WorleyParsons, which focuses on oil and gas construction projects, jumped over 7 percent. Oil Search advanced 5.6 percent after releasing its quarterly report.
Rio Tinto shares rallied almost 4 percent as the mining giant reaffirmed its output guidance for 2016 after lifting first quarter iron ore shipments by 11 percent. Rival BHP Billiton jumped 5 percent and Fortescue Metals Group soared 6.4 percent after a recovery in iron ore prices.
Lender ANZ rose 1.7 percent and rival NAB added 2.6 percent. Telecom giant Telstra gained 0.9 percent after releasing a new cloud solution.
South Korea's Kospi average rose 2.26 points or 0.11 percent to 2,011.36 after the country's central bank held the base rate steady at 1.5 percent for the tenth straight month - in line with expectations saying the current rate level supports economic growth.
The central bank, however, cut its forecasts for growth and inflation, citing uncertainties to the nation's growth path. Builders posted broad-based gains, with Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Engineering & Construction climbing 5-7 percent.
A rising tide in offshore markets helped New Zealand shares hit another record high for the fifth straight day. The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 21.84 points or 0.32 percent to 6,873.04, with Fletcher Building, Sky Network Television, Mighty River Power and Z Energy climbing 2-4 percent.
New Zealand's services sector continued to expand in March, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Business NZ revealed with a Performance of Services Index score of 54.8, down from the revised 56.7 in February.
Elsewhere, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index was up 0.2 percent and Singapore's Straits Times was up over 1 percent while Malaysia's KLSE Composite index was moving down half a percent and the Taiwan Weighted shed 0.4 percent. Indian markets were closed on account of Mahavir Jayanti.
U.S. stocks rose overnight, as crude prices steadied after earlier losses on failed output talks and investors digested strong earnings from the likes of Morgan Stanley and Hasbro.
While the Dow rose 0.6 percent to close above 18,000 for the first time since July, the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 advanced 0.7 percent.
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Market Analysis
May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.