HONG KONG - Asian markets rallied on Monday after China released data at the weekend that eased concerns about the world's second biggest economy.
Banks were also lifted by a deal in Geneva that aims to boost lenders' defences against another financial meltdown.
Beijing Saturday said industrial output at its millions of factories and workshops rose 13.9 percent year on year in August, compared with 13.4 in July, highlighting the robustness of the economy.
It also said retail sales, a key measure of consumer spending, rose 18.4 percent on year, while fixed asset investment in urban areas, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, rose 24.8 percent in January-August after a 24.9 percent rise in the first seven months of the year.
And the consumer price index rose 3.5 percent on year in August, compared with 3.3 percent in July, the fastest since October 2008 -- the height of the global financial crisis -- and above Beijing's annual target of three percent.
Shanghai rose 0.17 percent, Hong Kong was up 1.31 percent and Tokyo added one percent while Sydney gained 1.25 percent and Seoul climbed 0.46 percent.
The Chinese figures gave a much-needed lift to regional sentiment following recent data signalling a slowdown in the economy, which is a key export market for several Asian countries.
Lenders were helped after the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision announced on Sunday a new set of rules, known as Basel III, to avoid another global financial crisis.
The new regulations will force banks to more than triple their current reserves and would be phased in from 2013, said a statement issued by the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements.
Regional banks rose as they will be given plenty of time to adapt to the rules.
"This is something investors won't have to worry about for several years," Masumi Yamamoto, market analyst at Daiwa Securities Capital Markets, told Dow Jones Newswires.
The new Basel rules are "not as strict as we had expected" in terms of the schedule, said a senior dealer at a major European bank in Tokyo.
The euro was lifted by the agreement, with the single currency rising to 1.2776 dollars in Tokyo morning trade from 1.2680 dollars in New York late Friday, and to 107.66 yen from 106.75.
The dollar edged up to 84.27 yen from 84.17 yen.
Oil soared, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, gaining 75 cents to 77.20 dollars a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for October delivery advanced 49 cents to 78.65 dollars.
Gold opened at 1,245.40-1,246.40 US dollars an ounce in Hong Kong, down from Friday's closing price of 1,248.50-1,249.50.
