Asia markets mostly rose on Thursday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled overnight that the U.S. central bank could be cutting interest rates soon.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.72%.

Chinese stocks were mixed on the day. The Shanghai composite rose fractionally to 2,917.76, while the Shenzhen component declined 0.15% to 9,152.77 and the Shenzhen composite fell 0.125% to 1,548.93.Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.75%, as of 3:15 p.m. HK/SIN.

The Nikkei 225 rose 0.51% to close at 21,643.53, while the Topix gained 0.47% to finish its trading day in Tokyo at 1,578.63. Shares of game maker Nintendo jumped 4.15% a day after the company announced a cheaper version of its Switch video game console.

In South Korea, the Kospi added 1.06% to close at 2,080.58.

Relations between Tokyo and Seoul remain frosty, with Japan saying last week it would tighten restrictions on exports of three materials used in smartphone displays and chips, over a dispute with Seoul on South Koreans being forced to work for Japanese firms during World War Two.

On Thursday, South Korea announced that up to 300 billion won (approx. $256 million) would be set aside to cope with Japan's export curbs.

Shares of companies potentially affected by the export curbs, such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, rose 1.43% and 3.57% respectively on Thursday.

Australia's rose 0.39% to close at 6,716.10, as the sectors advanced. Banks were under the spotlight, with Australia's corporate regulator threatening on Thursday to prosecute some of the country's largest lenders over their sales of consumer insurance products in the past decade.