The Philippine index led the gains, rising 3% and hit its highest close in a month. Big caps Ayala Corp and Bank of the Philippine Islands rose 8.3% and 5.2%, respectively.

China - at the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.37% at 2,825.90.

India's coal import in March stood at 15.74 million tonnes (MT), down 27.5 per cent over last year,

The emergency declaration gives the governors of Tokyo and six other selected prefectures -- Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Fukuoka, Hyogo and Osaka -- legal backing to ask the public to stay home.

Asia's markets in Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong opened higher, then pared gains.

Four LNG tankers are currently enroute to China after loading cargoes last month in the United States,

China is boosting U.S. energy imports at a time when the world is swamped with excess supply after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia failed to extend production cuts and as measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus undermined demand.

At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.57% at 2,734.52.

China's oil product consumption over the first two months of 2020 dropped 14.1% year on year to 41.94 million mt.

Many manufacturing operations in India were forced to halt to contain the spread of the virus and production has seen a decline, especially among automakers, with the outbreak affecting supply chains.

The benchmark Nikkei average fell 4.5% to a one-week closing low of 18,065.41. However, overall trading was subdued, with the volume of shares traded on the main board valued at 2.72 trillion yen, its lowest level in a month.

gas prices in Europe and Asia have collapsed to record lows, while the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark tumbled to its lowest since 1995.

As for last year's production volumes, we produced 500.1 billion cubic meters of gas and exported 199.3 billion cubic meters. The latter figure is slightly lower than in 2018, which was marked by a record 201.8 billion cubic meters. We also preserved our share in the European market at 35.6 per cent.

India intends to solarize its digital future. It became a world leader in the fight against climate change when Prime Minister Modi launched the International Solar Alliance with 121 member countries ahead of the Paris Agreement in 2015, with the primary objective to work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

State-owned oil and gas major Gazprom announced on February 20 it is looking to produce hydrogen from natural gas.