Asia-Pacific markets traded moderately higher on Friday, tracking gains on Wall Street overnight as Treasury yields eased.
By 11:30 am AEST (1:30 am GMT), Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.2%, Japan's Nikkei 225 had gained 0.8%, and South Korea's KOSPI 200 was 1.1% higher.
Among data releases, South Korea posted its largest July current account surplus on record at US$42.08 billion, supported by a surge in semiconductor exports.
Provisional data from the Bank of Korea showed the July surplus was the second-largest on record, behind the $49.73 billion surplus recorded in June.
The cumulative surplus for the first seven months of the year reached $233.09 billion.
The goods account recorded its second-largest surplus at $40.43 billion after exports jumped 65.3% year-on-year to $100.45 billion.
Shipments of computer peripherals surged 344.5%, while semiconductor exports rose 176.3%.
Imports increased 21.7% to $60.02 billion, driven by higher purchases of capital goods, including semiconductors and transportation equipment, as well as raw materials such as crude oil and gas.
In Japan, household spending fell 3.6% year-on-year in July, marking its sharpest decline in 2½ years amid weak private consumption ahead of a closely watched Bank of Japan meeting.
The decline was worse than the median forecast for a 1.6% fall and marked the eighth consecutive month of contraction.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, household spending edged up 0.5%, well below expectations for a 2.6% increase.
Among major U.S. benchmarks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2%, the S&P 500 gained 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.4%.
In commodities on Thursday, ICE Brent crude eased 0.1% to settle at US$95.52 a barrel, while spot gold climbed 2% to US$4,472.93 an ounce.
In China, the SSE Composite Index finished flat at 3,942.1, while the CSI 300 edged 0.1% higher to 4,552.6.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.4% to 25,213.3, while India's BSE Sensex dipped 0.6% to 76,152.9.
European markets finished higher across the board on Thursday. The UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.7% to 10,831.5, Germany's DAX gained 0.6% to 26,003.3 and France's CAC 40 added 0.1% to 8,286.4.
