Asian stock markets were higher on Wednesday as Greece edged closer to resolving its debt crisis, with the improved sentiment helping push the Australian market to a five-session high. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.3%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.2% to 4561.1, South Korea's Kospi Composite gained 1.1% and New Zealand's NZX-50 was up 0.6%.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 16 points in screen trade. Wall Street's sharp rise on Tuesday and news Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou had survived a crucial confidence vote in Parliament supported regional sentiment.

The positive result for Mr. Papandreou raised expectations that the Greek parliament would pass fresh budget cuts by the end of the month, which European Union officials are insisting as a condition of granting further aid to the debt-stricken country.

"The Greece situation in recent days has at least shown signs of progression rather than stagnation," said Tim Waterer, senior currency dealer at CMC Markets in Sydney.

"The march higher in equities...provided some comfort to a market which is desperate to latch onto any hint of good news," he said.

The improved global sentiment supported markets from Australia to Japan.

"Developments regarding the U.S. economy and Europe determine the global risk appetite and the short-term concerns in Europe for now have subsided," said Hisatsune Kobayashi, general manager at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo.

Thirty one of the 33 Topix subindexes were higher, with Sony up 2.1% following recent sharp losses, Toshiba added 1.6%, while Toyota Motor advanced 0.8%.

Elpida Memory jumped 4.0% on news it has developed the world's thinnest mobile DRAM chip package.

In Sydney, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose to a five-day high of 4565.9 in opening trade, with materials leading broad-based gains after their offshore peers outperformed on Tuesday.

BHP Billiton added 1.6% and Rio Tinto rose 1.8%. In the energy sector, Woodside Petroleum rose 1.3% and Paladin jumped 8.3% after Citi upgraded the stock to Buy.

Virgin Australia dropped 5.4% after Qantas shares were put on a trading halt. Brokers suspect the Australian flag carrier will issue a profit-warning—-the carrier is currently experiencing major disruptions due to an ash cloud created by a Chilean volcano.

Foster's Group continued to gain as investors expect SABMiller to raise its offer price after the Australian beer maker on Tuesday rejected an initial A$9.51 billion (US$9.98 billion) offer from the global brewing giant. The stock was up 1.5%.

The Seoul market largely ignored news that South Korea will remain under review for an upgrade by MSCI, as expectations for an upgrade "weren't that high," said Daishin Securities analyst Choi Jai-sic.

Construction and securities firms shone on bargain hunting, with Daewoo Engineering & Construction up 2.9%, while Woori Investment & Securities advanced 3.8%.

Hynix Semiconductor rose 4.1% as creditors-turned-shareholders of the chip company on Tuesday relaunched the sale of their controlling stake.

The creditors are seeking to complete the sale of their combined 15% stake in the world's second-largest computer memory chipmaker by revenue by the end of this year.

Industrial Bank of Korea underperformed its peers, losing 6.3% on news the government plans to sell 45.78 million of IBK Shares.

In foreign exchange markets, the euro was trading slightly lower against the U.S. dollar after briefly rallying on news that Greek Prime Minister Papandreou's government had survived a confidence vote in parliament.

Traders say the investors will remain cautious as they wait for Greece's parliament next week to support the government's proposed €28 billion ($40.35 billion) in spending cuts and new taxes over the next five years--a crucial process to securing fresh aid from the euro-zone.

"Euro sentiment is likely to remain somewhat fragile given the ongoing uncertainties," Credit Agricole said in a note to clients. It added currency markets will now focus on the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve rate-setting meeting later in the global day.

"This is unlikely to bode particularly well for the U.S. dollar given that the Fed is set to downgrade its growth forecasts, with the comments on the economy likely to sound a little more downbeat given the loss of momentum recently as reflected in a string of disappointing data releases," it said.

The euro was fetching $1.4388 against the dollar, from $1.4408 late on Tuesday in New York, and ¥115.51 against the yen, from ¥115.59. The dollar was at ¥80.27, from ¥80.21.

September Japanese government bond futures were down 0.06 at 141.09 points amid easing Greek debt concerns, while the 10-year cash JGB yield was flat at 1.125%

Spot gold was at $1545.00 per troy ounce, down $2.20 from its New York settlement on Tuesday. August Nymex crude oil futures were down 47 cents at $93.70 per barrel on Globex.

source wsj