Tokyo's Nikkei 225 briefly broke 30,000 for the first time in five months on growing expectations for a fresh injection of stimulus after Japan's prime minister said he would step aside, paving the way for a new big-spending successor
The calm reaction marked a change from recent times, with benchmark 10-year Treasury yields, a key gauge of future interest rates, inching down slightly.
Investors are now looking to Washington, where the House of Representatives is due to hold a final vote on Biden's vast rescue package for the world's top economy, with the Democrat-controlled chamber expected to pass it for the president to sign off by the weekend.
However, Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB research group, said: "There is within the alliance a major difference of opinion on the capacity of the oil market to absorb new volumes."