This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific markets were mostly higher Thursday, as Wall Street rose overnight after U.S. President Donald Trump postponed tariffs on certain automakers.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.77% to close at 37,704.93, while the Topix climbed 1.22% to end the trading day at 2,751.41. Yields of Japanese government bond yields have surged, with the 10-year Japanese bond yield hitting its highest level since 2009, data from LSEG showed.

South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.7% to close at 2,576.16 while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 1.61% to close at 734.92.

South Korea's consumer inflation for February rose 2% year on year, more than Reuters estimates of a 1.95% increase, and slower than the 2.2% gain in January.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.47% at the open while mainland China's CSI 300 added 1.38% to close at 3,956.24 after Beijing on Wednesday announced plans to raise its fiscal deficit to "around 4%" of GDP, a rare increase that marks a meaningful shift in policy.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.57% to close at 8,094.7.

The White House on Wednesday announced a one-month delay on tariffs for automakers whose vehicles comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt also said that Trump was "open" to additional tariff exemptions beyond the pause on auto levies.

Overnight in the U.S., the three major averages closed higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounded 485.60 points, or 1.14%, to finish at 43,006.59, regaining ground after plunging more than 1,300 points over the last two sessions. The S&P 500 added 1.12% to 5,842.63, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.46% to 18,552.73.

—CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han and Alex Harring contributed to this report.

Seven & i shares rise on report of CEO change, business restructuring plans

Seven & i Holdings shares rose as the company is expected to reveal business restructuring plans and a leadership shift on Thursday, with Stephen Dacus, the lead outside director, likely to succeed Ryuichi Isaka as the company's CEO, Reuters reported.

Last week, the company said its founding family had failed to secure the financing needed to buyout the convenience store operator.

Shares of Seven & i rose 2%.

— Lee Ying Shan, Reuters

Shares of Alibaba rise after announcing new model

Shares of Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba jumped after it made its QwQ-32B model open-source on Thursday. The company claims its performance is comparable to DeepSeek's R1 model.

Alibaba share rose 7% in Hong Kong.

Chinese tech stocks, including Alibaba, have largely been on a tear since AI startup DeepSeek came into the fore.

Alibaba, which posted stellar earnings results last month, and has been making "significant strides" in advancing its AI cloud business after launching its Qwen 2.5-Max flagship AI foundation model, experts said.

—Lee Ying Shan

Japanese 10-year bond yields surge to near 16-year highs on rate-hike expectations, global sell-off

Japanese government bond yields surged Thursday, with the 10-year JGB yield hitting the highest since June 2009, with experts pointing to pressure from a global sell-off in bonds.

The yield on the 10-year JGB rose nearly 8 basis points to cross 1.5% for the first time since 2009, while those on the 30-year bonds also climbed 13 basis points to cross the 2.5% mark for the first time since 2008.

The JGB sell-off was in conjunction with upward pressure on global yields, said Masahiko Loo, senior fixed income strategist at State Street Global Advisors. U.S. 10-year treasury yield climbed 5 basis points to 4.317%.

—Lim Hui Jie, Lee Ying Shan

CK Hutchinson shares pop 12%, extending gains

Shares of Hong Kong's CK Hutchinson extended gains on Thursday morning after U.S. President Donald Trump commended a transaction led by BlackRock to purchase the bulk of CK Hutchison's ports division, including its holdings along the Panama Canal.

Hong Kong-listed shares of CK Hutchinson were last seen trading 12.3% higher.

— Lee Ying Shan

Japan auto stocks climb after Trump tariff exemption

Shares of Japanese automakers climbed after the White House announced a one-month North American tariff exemption for carmakers that comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement's trade rules of origin.

Shares of Honda rose 2%, while Nissan climbed 1.99%. Mazda Motor advanced 2.64%.

— Lee Ying Shan

South Korea inflation softens for the first time in four months

South Korea's inflation rate fell in February for the first time in four months, coming in at 2% from a year earlier, compared to a gain of 2.2% in January.

This figure was slightly above the 1.95% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

It also affords more room for South Korea's central bank to cut rates further as the country struggles with a slowing economy.

— Lim Hui Jie

Stocks finish higher

Stocks ended Wednesday's turbulent session in the green after a significant afternoon rally.

The Nasdaq Composite led the three major indexes with a 1.5% jump. The Dow and S&P 500 each climbed 1.1%.

— Alex Harring

Trump's auto tariff extension helped reverse 'selling frenzy,' says SimCorp's Brown

The White House's announcement on Wednesday of tariff exemptions for auto makers helped reverse this week's market downturn, according to Melissa Brown, managing director of investment decision research at SimCorp.

"Investors have wanted to view the tariff threat as just that, a threat meant as a negotiating tactic, not one that would actually be implemented," Brown said. "As the deadline for Canadian and Mexican tariffs drew closer, markets became concerned and reacted with a sharp sell-off. ... But, today, as the government announced potential agreements and relief for certain sectors, the selling frenzy started to reverse."

"The one thing that seems clear is that uncertainty for investors will continue," Brown added. "What we say today may be obsolete by tomorrow."

— Alex Harring