Helped by an upbeat day on Wall Street, Asia stocks recouped 1 percent, having tumbled on Wednesday after Beijing's surprise increase of bank reserve requirements -- China's strongest step yet to rein in asset inflation.
In Australia, shares rose nearly 1 percent as miners gained, while jobs data for December beat forecasts and the market priced in a 75 percent chance of a rate rise at the next policy meeting, sending the Aussie dollar up and the low-yielding yen down.
Shanghai's key stock index, which fell 3.1 percent on the monetary tightening, struggled to hold gains but Tokyo's Nikkei index neared a 15-month high and the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1 percent, heading back towards a recent 17-month high.
Tech and materials stocks led the rebound, gaining ground after being hit a day earlier by concern that China's purchases of imports could suffer if policy tightening cooled its rapid economic growth.
"The market is recovering as investors are relieved to see U.S. shares recover fairly quickly after news of China's monetary tightening moves," said Lee Kyoung-su, a market analyst at Taurus Investment & Securities. Read More at Asia Market News