Sentiment was also lifted by better-than-expected economic data out of Washington that eased concerns the United States is slipping into recession.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday called on her eurozone counterparts to recapitalise the banking sector to help prevent Greece's debt crisis from spreading to other nations.
Her view that helping the banks was "justified, if we have a joint approach" echoed comments from the EU's economic affairs commissioner the previous day, and gave a much-needed boost to nervous investors.
Hong Kong soared 5.67 percent while Tokyo gained 1.66 percent, Seoul rallied 2.63 percent, Sydney raced 3.65 percent higher and Taipei rose 2.04 percent.
In Southeast Asia, Singapore gained 2.94 percent, Bangkok surged 5.92 percent, Jakarta jumped 4.55 percent, Kuala Lumpur rose 1.31 percent and Manila closed 1.76 percent higher.
Shanghai and Mumbai were closed for public holidays.
Merkel was speaking soon after France and Belgium agreed to bail out Dexia, the first European bank to be dragged down by the eurozone debt crisis -- and which also had to be rescued in 2008.
Merkel said it "is important for the markets that we achieve results... time is pressing and we have to act quickly".
Germany, she said, was ready to lead, putting fresh capital into its banks if necessary, but added that Europe had no "magic wand" to resolve the crisis.
Markets have been hammered in recent weeks as Europe's leaders bicker over a plan to help Greece avoid a default and find a way out of its debt crisis, which many fear could plunge the global economy into another recession.
The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday also urged Europe to balance growth with austerity and called for a "more than overdue" solution to the crisis, warning of recession next year if it fails.
European stocks were lifted, with London's FTSE-100 jumping 3.19 percent, Frankfurt's DAX soaring 4.91 percent and Paris' CAC-40 up 4.33 percent.
And in early trade on Thursday all three main indexes were up again.
Merkel's comments also provided a platform for Wall Street, with the Dow up 1.21 percent, the S&P 500 adding 1.79 percent and the Nasdaq up 2.32 percent.
US traders were given another boost by upbeat macroeconomic data.
The ISM index on the US service economy in September fell slightly to 53 from 53.3 the previous month, but was still in positive territory, while its business activity sub-index rose 1.5 points to 57.1.
Meanwhile the private payrolls firm ADP reported that US companies added 91,000 jobs last month, more than what analysts had predicted.
"In addition to talks of putting in place a system of backstops for European banks, the US macroeconomic data have generally been solid, lending to relief in market sentiment," Yoshihiro Okumura, general manager of research at Chibagin Asset Management in Tokyo, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Stocks linked to Apple were mixed following news the US giant's co-founder and chairman Steve Jobs had died of cancer.
In Tokyo, the official iPhone carriers were mixed. Softbank fell 0.30 percent and KDDI gained 1.26 percent, while among parts suppliers Sharp rose 3.45 percent and Ibiden surged 4.77 percent.
In Seoul, rival Samsung Electronics was up 1.54 percent while LG Electronics rose 6.33 percent, in a surging market.
And in Taipei, Hon Hai Precision -- the parent of Apple goods assembler Foxconn, gained 3.55 percent while smartphone maker HTC was 1.63 percent lower.
- AFP/ir
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