Traders in Asia also look toward August consumer prices index from Japan and Hong Kong, and central bank decisions from Bank of Japan and People's Bank of China.

The Asia-Pacific equity markets were higher on Thursday as investors reacted to the latest Federal Reserve monetary policy decision. The Fed delivered an aggressive half percentage point rate cut on Wednesday for its first-rate reduction in four years.

China and Japan reached a consensus in August on the discharge of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant, Chinese state television CCTV reported on Friday. The two sides agreed on Japan establishing a long-term international monitoring arrangement and allowing stakeholders to conduct independent sampling and monitoring,

Japan and China announced Friday that they have reached a deal resolving their disputes over the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean and Beijing's subsequent ban on Japanese seafood.

Japan's core consumer inflation accelerated for the fourth straight month in August and tracked comfortably above the central bank's 2% target, data showed on Friday, keeping alive expectations for further interest rate hikes.

Japan’s key inflation gauge accelerated in August for a fourth consecutive month, hours before the Bank of Japan is scheduled to wrap up its latest policy decision meeting.

The core consumer price index in Japan, which excludes fresh food but includes fuel costs, increased by 2.8% year-on-year in August 2024, posting the highest reading since February and..