• In lockstep with the Fed, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority cut its interest rate by 50 basis points to 5.25%, as the city's currency is pegged to the greenback.
• The Bank of Japan has kicked off a two-day meeting ending Friday, where the central bankers will make a key rate decision, after it ended the decades-long ultralow interest rates earlier this year.
• New Zealand's GDP for the second quarter contracted by 0.2% from the previous quarter, according to the official data released Thursday morning, less than Reuters poll estimates of a 0.4% decline.

Asia-Pacific markets rose in choppy trading Thursday, as investors assessed the Federal Reserve's decision to cut interest rates by a half-percentage point.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 2.13% to end at 37,155.33, while the broad-based Topix climbed 2.01% to finish at 2,616.87.

The Fed lowered its benchmark borrowing rate by a half percentage point, bringing its target range to 4.75% to 5%.

In lockstep with the Fed, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority cut its interest rate by 50 basis points to 5.25%, as the city's currency is pegged to the greenback.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 2.17% in the final hour of trade.

The Bank of Japan has kicked off a two-day meeting ending Friday, where the central bankers will make a key rate decision, after the central bank ended its decades-long ultra-low interest rates regime earlier this year.

The Japanese yen strengthened slightly to 142.18 against the U.S. dollar in afternoon trading.

Mainland China's CSI 300 was 0.8% higher settling at 3,196.36, led by real estate stocks which were up more than 3%.

South Korea's blue-chip Kospi ended 0.21% higher at 2,580.8, while the small-cap Kosdaq climbed 0.86% to 739.15.

Australia's national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained steady in August at 4.2%, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics, in line with Reuters-polled analysts' expectation, while employment additions at 47,500 surpassed estimates of 25,000 additions.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 surged 0.61% to close at 8,191.9, hitting a fresh record high.

New Zealand's GDP for the second quarter contracted by 0.2% from the previous quarter, according to the official data released Thursday morning, less than Reuters poll estimates of a 0.4% decline.

Taiwan's central bank is set to make a key rate decision Thursday, and release its revised economic growth and inflation forecasts for this year.

The Taiwan Weighted Index rose 1.68% to finish at 22,042.69.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes fell, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.25% to 41,503.1, while the S&P 500 fell 0.29% to end at 5,618.26. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.31% to 17,573.3.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 surged to fresh highs during intraday trading before reversing course to close lower.

—CNBC's Hakyung Kim and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.