Asian markets rose sharply Friday after the Bank of Japan made a surprise announcement that it was introducing a negative interest rate policy, which should kick-start lending in the world's third-largest economy.
The Nikkei in Tokyo closed 2.8 percent higher after a day of volatile swings between gains and losses.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 2.5 percent for the day, although ended the month down about 10 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index closed up 3.1 percent to cap a month where the index still lost more than 22 percent.
Markets in Sydney, Singapore, Manila and Taipei all finished the day up about 2 percent.
European markets followed the upward trend in morning trading.
