Asian shares mostly climbed for a third straight day Friday following more advances on Wall Street, while bargain-buying helped oil recover slightly from its latest sell-off.

The euro edged up but struggled to make sizeable gains against the dollar, with the European Central Bank expected to unleash a vast easing programme at the same time as the US Federal Reserve plots an interest rate hike.

Tokyo gave back most of its early gains but ended marginally higher, adding 0.18 percent, or 30.63 points, to 17,197.73, while Seoul surged 1.05 percent, or 20.05 points, to 1,924.70 and Sydney rose 1.56 percent, or 84.15 points, to close at 5,465.6.

Hong Kong rose 0.35 percent, or 84.42 points, to 23,919.95 but Shanghai slipped 0.24 percent, or 8.05 points, to 3,285.41.

The mainland Chinese market swung wildly through the day, at one point adding 3.38 percent following news that Chinese inflation for December edged up from the previous month but fell well short of the government's target for the full year.

Confidence has picked up over the past few days as analysts predict the ECB will launch a bond-buying scheme -- known as quantitative easing (QE) -- to kickstart the eurozone economy.

Expectations were fanned when data Wednesday showed consumer prices in the region had fallen for the first time since October 2009, during the financial crisis.

A pause in the downward spiral of oil prices also provided relief after a report showed US stockpiles had fallen last week, giving some hope that demand is picking up.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for February delivery edged up 17 cents to finish at $48.96 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for February rose one cent to $50.97. (AFP)