Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly higher Friday as investors await U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the central bank's annual economic symposium, which could offer clues into the path of interest rates.

South Korea's Kospi jumped 0.86% to close at 3,168.73 and the small-cap Kosdaq ended the day 0.68% higher at 782.51.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 closed flat at 42,633.29, while the Topix rose 0.58% to 3,100.87.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.57% to close at 8,967.4 after the index crossed the 9,000 mark for the first time Thursday.

The country's core inflation rate cooled to 3.1% in July, coming down from 3.3% the month before. The figure — which strips out costs for fresh food — was higher than the 3% expected by economists polled

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