China's stocks reversed course to rise Monday after data showing persistent deflationary pressures from weak domestic demand pushed them lower earlier in the session.
Japan's stocks jumped on growing bets that its central bank might not hike interest rates next week.
November inflation numbers from China showed a faster-than-expected decline in consumer prices.
The consumer price index fell 0.5% year-on-year, more than the 0.1% drop expected by economists polled by Reuters and the fastest slide since November 2020.
The producer price index fell 3% year-on-year, compared with October's 2.6% drop and expectations of a 2.8% decline. It also marked the 14th straight month of PPI decline and the quickest since August.
China's CSI 300 index ended 0.59% higher at 3,419.45 after falling more than 1% earlier in the day, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 1% in the final hour of trading.
Japan's Nikkei 225 ended 1.5% higher at 32,791.80, while the broad based Topix added 1.47% to close at 2,358.55.
Investors were hopeful that the Bank of Japan may not raise interest rates at its monetary policy meeting next week.
Focus for this week will be on the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision, where it is largely expected to hold its policy rate steady at the range of 5.25% and 5.5%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 started Monday up 0.06% at 7,199.00, ending at a three-month high.
South Korea's Kospi closed 0.3% higher at 2,525.36, was last up 0.06% and the small cap Kosdaq was up 0.59% at 835.25.
On Friday, all three major U.S. indexes rose, with the S&P 500 climbing to hit a new high for the year after the November jobs report and University of Michigan consumer survey data signaled a resilient economy and cooling inflation, fueling hopes for a so-called soft-landing scenario.
The S&P 500 added 0.41%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.45%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained or 0.36%.
— CNBC's Samantha Subin and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report
