BOK rate decision, Australia unemployment

Asia-Pacific markets mostly climbed Thursday, after U.S. markets soared on the back of an unexpected decline in core inflation numbers in December and strong bank earnings.

Korea’s central bank surprised market watchers by keeping benchmark rates unchanged at 3%. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the Bank of Korea to cut its policy rate by 25 basis points.

South Korea’s Kospi ended the day up 1.23% to 2,527.49, while the small-cap Kosdaq index was up 1.77% to 724.24 following the announcement. The Korean won last weakened slightly to trade at 1,456.91 against the greenback.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 closed up 0.33% to 38,572.60, while the Topix lost 0.09% to 2,688.31.

Japan’s annual producer price index climbed 3.8% in December, in line with expectations of economists polled by Reuters.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 1.08% in its final hour of trade, while mainland China’s CSI 300 gained 0.11% to end the day at 3,800.38.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended the day up 1.38% at 8,327.

The country’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December rose slightly to 4% from November’s 3.9%, in line with estimates by economists polled by Reuters.

Overnight in the U.S., stocks saw significant gains with all three major averages recording their best day since Nov. 6.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.65%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.83%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallied 2.45%.

Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield dropped sharply at about 4.65% or around 13 basis points on the back of the CPI report.

Oil prices rose following news of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal. Brent crude gained 0.21% while the WTI edged up 0.29% to $80.27 per barrel.

— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.