By Kosaku Narioka

TOKYO--Most Asian stocks rose Monday, taking their cues from greater stability in crude oil prices and the Russian ruble, along with the U.S. Federal Reserve's indication last week it would take a slow approach to raising interest rates.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.9% to 5442.00 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 1.3% at 23408.57 as concerns eased over further instability in commodity and other global market conditions. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended up 0.1% at 17635.14, having hovered above and below the break-even mark throughout the session on a day of thin trading.

U.S. and global oil benchmarks jumped to their largest percentage gains in more than two years Friday. The Russian ruble recovered some ground to 58.80 per dollar from the record low of 80.00 Tuesday last week.

BHP Billiton Ltd., which has both energy and mining interests, added 3.0%. "The rebound in oil and iron ore will be key for the local market as investors look for some bargains in the resource space," said Stan Shamu, a strategist at broker IG in Australia.

PetroChina Co. Ltd., China's biggest oil firm listed in Hong Kong, rose 4.1% as oil prices rebounded.

While the Federal Reserve last week broached the prospect of "beginning to normalize the stance of monetary policy," it also said it would be "patient" before raising rates, in a move expected to come around the middle of next year. The approach taken by Fed officials helped lift stocks in the U.S. and elsewhere, pushing up the S&P 500 just shy of a fresh closing record Friday.

"We won't see a rate increase at least until April. The rate rise isn't imminent. We've got some time," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management in Tokyo.

Not everyone has gained from the upturn in crude prices. Japanese airline stocks fell, after recent gains on the lower oil prices, which translate into reduced fuel costs. Japan Airlines Co. lost 1.7%.

Taiwan shares gained 1.1% on a rosy outlook for technology companies in the coming quarter as many big names are expected to roll out new products. Acer Inc. rose 2.9%.

Shanghai stocks advanced 0.6%, while India's Sensex was up 0.4%.

Among other individual stock movers in Japan, Idemitsu Kosan Co. rose 2.5% to Yen2,075 following news of a potential buyout of Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., which surged 28% to Yen1,302. Japan's second-biggest oil refiner and distributor said Saturday it is in talks to buy the No. 5 player in the industry as falling domestic oil demand pinches the margins of wholesalers.

JX Holdings Inc. rose 6.4% after its unit JX Nippon Oil & Energy signed a pact Friday with Vietnam National Petroleum Corp. to negotiate a deal to buy a stake in the state-run firm and set up a joint venture to develop an oil refinery in the nation.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

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