Asian shares gain as BOJ defends ultra-easy stance, oil price eases

Japanese shares led gains in Asian stocks on Tuesday as the Bank of Japan defended its ultra-easy stance, while oil slid on fears of lower demand from China as Shanghai applied a "zero-COVID" strategy by locking down despite a relatively modest caseload.

Japan's Nikkei gained 0.91% in early trade, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.64%.

The BOJ vowed to keep monetary policy ultra-loose, offering to buy unlimited government bonds for the first four days of this week, to prevent yields in Japan from rising as they are doing elsewhere following U.S. Federal Reserve's moves to hike interest