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A Japanese flag is displayed as shoppers and pedestrians walk past stores at a shopping street in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016.

Most Asia-Pacific markets were higher Friday with Japan's Nikkei 225 leading gains, after Wall Street soared overnight following the Federal Reserve's outsized rate cut.

The Bank of Japan kept its benchmark interest rate steady at around 0.25% — the highest rate since 2008 — at the conclusion of a two-day meeting Friday.

Japan's core consumer price index climbed 2.8% year on year, in line with Reuters estimates, versus a 2.7% rise in the previous month. Excluding fresh food and energy, inflation came in at 2%, versus 1.9% in the previous month.

The Japanese yen firmed 0.30% against the greenback to 142.20.

China also did not tinker with its key lending rates, with the one-year loan prime rate — which affects corporate and household loans — at 3.35% and the five-year LPR — a reference for mortgage rates — at 3.85%.

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