Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended above 40,000 on Tuesday after the country's central bank raised interest rates for the first time since 2007.
The Bank of Japan officially ended its negative interest rate policy, hiking rates for the first time in 17 years to 0% to 0.1% from -0.1% . The bank also abolished its yield curve control policy, marking a historic shift in policy.
Japan's Nikkei 225 whipsawed following the news but ended the day 0.66% higher at 40,003.60. The broader Topix closed 1.06% higher at 2,750.97.
In another monetary policy meeting, the Reserve Bank of Australia held its benchmark rate at 4.35% for the third meeting in a row.
"While recent data indicates that inflation is easing, it remains high," the bank said in a statement, adding that its board expects that it will be "some time yet" before inflation comes down to the RBA's target range of 2%-3%.
The S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.36% up at 7,7703.20 after the decision, extending gains from Monday.
South Korea's Kospi fell 1.10% to close at 2,656.17, while the small-cap Kosdaq inched 0.29% lower to end at 891.91.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slid 1.13%, and the mainland Chinese CSI 300 closed 0.72% lower at 3,577.63.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes rebounded as tech companies gained, while investors awaited monetary policy guidance from the Federal Reserve.
Nvidia shares rose 0.7% on the first day of the company's GTC Conference — where the chipmaker is expected to showcase its latest inroads in artificial intelligence. Shares of Alphabet ended 4.6% higher after Bloomberg News reported that Apple was in talks with Google to include the company's Gemini AI in iPhones.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.63%. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.82%.
— CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han and Brian Evans contributed to this report