Asia-Pacific markets trade mixed

Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Friday after China kept benchmark rates steady, while investors monitored escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, reports CNBC.

US President Donald Trump is now weighing whether to back the Israeli military and strike Tehran. The White House said that he will make a final decision within the next two weeks.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended the day 1.26 per cent higher at 23,530, while mainland China's CSI 300 index closed flat at 3,846.64, after the People's Bank of China expectedly kept its loan rates unchanged at 3.0 per cent for the 1-year loan prime rate and 3.5 per cent for the 5-year LPR.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 closed 0.22 per cent lower at 38,403.23 while the broader Topix index fell 0.75 per cent in choppy trade to 2,771.26

The country's core inflation rate climbed to 3.7 per cent in May, its highest level since January 2023. The metric -- which strips out costs for fresh food -- was higher than the 3.6 per cent expected by economists polled by Reuters and is above April's print of 3.5 per cent.

In South Korea, the Kospi index increased by 1.48 per cent to end the day at 3,021.84, it's highest in over 42 months, after crossing the 3,000 mark for the first time in 42 months, earlier in the session. Meanwhile, the small-cap Kosdaq climbed 1.15 per cent to 791.53

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended the day down 0.21 per cent, paring losses to close at 8,505.50.