Bank of Korea rate decision and Fed minutes are being assessed by investors as Asia-Pacific markets open stronger ahead of the decision.

• Traders will closely monitor the language in the BOK's rate announcement to determine if any policy easing is possible.
• Traders in Asia will evaluate flash PMI data from Australia, Japan, and India during the trading day.

On Thursday, the Asia-Pacific markets generally rose, with investors evaluating flash business activity data from Australia, Japan, and India, while also monitoring the Bank of Korea's rate decision.

Traders will closely monitor the language in the BOK's rate announcement to determine if any policy easing is possible.

The Federal Reserve released minutes for its July meeting, indicating that some participants advocated for easing rates in July rather than September.

The majority of participants at the July 30-31 meeting observed that, if the data continued to come in as expected, it would likely be appropriate to ease policy at the next meeting, according to the summary.

Japan's Nikkei was flat, while the broad-based Topix fell by 0.11%.

The small-cap Kosdaq in South Korea rose by 0.39%, while the country's stock market increased by 0.35%.

The HSI's last close of 17,391.01 was lower than Hong Kong's futures at 17,514.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia increased by 0.26% after the country's flash composite purchasing managers index in August rose to 51.4 from 49.9 the previous month, reaching a three-month high due to increasing services activity, as stated by Judo Bank.

In the U.S., the three major benchmarks increased following the Fed minutes, indicating a possibility of lower rates in the near future.

The S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite, and Dow Jones Industrial Average all experienced gains, with the S&P 500 adding 0.42%, the Nasdaq Composite climbing 0.57%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticking up by 0.14%.

—CNBC's Alex Harring and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.