Japan's core consumer prices index climbed 2.8% year on year, in line with Reuters estimates, versus a 2.7% rise in the previous month. The reading will be the last gauge of the economy before the BOJ concludes its two-day monetary policy meeting,

Japan's Nikkei share average jumped more than 2 per cent in the morning session on Friday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, while traders also kept a wary eye ahead of the Bank of Japan's policy decision later in the day.

The Asia-Pacific equity markets were higher on Thursday as investors reacted to the latest Federal Reserve monetary policy decision. Read more here.

The major benchmarks rebounded from intraday lows after a volatile trading session, as investors parsed through the higher-than-expected consumer prices report.