Japan, Australia, India PMI, Bank of Korea decision

Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly higher on Thursday as investors assessed preliminary economic activity data from Australia, Japan and India throughout the trading day.

The Bank of Korea also kept its policy rate unchanged at 3.5%, as expected, but traders will be watching the wording of upcoming press releases to gauge whether there is any possibility of policy easing.

This came after the Fed released the minutes of its July meeting, a summary of which revealed that some participants had argued for interest rates to be eased at the July meeting instead of in September.

But a “majority” of participants at the July 30-31 meeting “expressed the view that if the data continued to show expected results, it would likely be appropriate to ease policy at the next meeting,” the summary said.

Japanese Nikkei Stock Average The index rose 1.03%, while the Tokyo Stock Exchange Index rose 0.32%. Japanese business activity accelerated in August, with the composite purchasing managers’ index rising to 53.0 from 52.5 in July.

The country’s manufacturing sector returned to growth and its services sector expanded at a faster pace.

Korean Cospi rose slightly, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.53%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index It rose 0.35%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 was trading just above flat.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.25%. The country’s composite purchasing managers’ index rose to 51.4 in August from 49.9 in the previous month, the highest level in three months, supported by rising services activity, according to Judo Bank.

In the US, all three major indicators rose following the release of the Fed minutes, raising hopes of lower interest rates in the near future.

The S&P 500 rose 0.42%, bringing the index to within 1% of its all-time high, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.57% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.14%.

—CNBC’s Alex Harring and Samantha Sabin contributed to this report.