On Thursday, Asia-Pacific stock markets exchanged mixed while investors await the release of the US unemployment report later in the week for indications on how long the Fed will remain on pause.

After being closed for public holidays, Japanese markets reopened this week for the first time. The Nikkei 225 index gained 1.8 % reversing most of its earlier gains, whereas the Topix index gained 1.66 %.

The Kospi in South Korea that was also shut in the last session rose 0.32 %. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index trimmed off the majority of its more than 1% increases to trade marginally higher, up 0.08 %.

After being closed for public holidays, Chinese mainland shares were exchanged for the first time in May. The Shanghai composite lost ground, falling 0.22 %, while the Shenzhen portion dropped 1.82 %.

Meanwhile, Australia's ASX 200 fell 0.37 % as most sectors have been in the negative territory.

Thursday's meeting in Asia-Pacific comes after a mixed close on Wall Street overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing at a fresh all-time closing record.

Report on Employment in the US

The U.S. employment data for April, among the most important economic forecasts in global capital markets, is yet to receive on Friday, and analysts predict salaries will comfortably exceed 1 million after adding 916,000 jobs in March.

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida told CNBC's "Closing Bell" that, as the work picture in the US improves, the central bank will be secured enough to withdraw all of the assistance it has offered since the Covid-19 pandemic ended the country's prolonged expansion in history.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated this week that interest rates would have to increase to keep the burgeoning growth of the US economy under control, which has been fueled in part by trillions of dollars in government stimulus spending. She eventually softened her stance about the need for higher interest rates.

“Despite persistent affirmations from Yellen and a slew of Fed officials that the coming rise in inflation will be ‘temporary,' investors seem to be a little more concerned,” Rodrigo Catril, a senior foreign-exchange analyst at National Australia Bank, wrote in a morning note.

“Options rates show that the market (sees) a better than the one-in-three probability that US CPI will average more than 3% over the next five years,” he explained, emphasizing that high oil prices have helped increase inflation expectations.

Oil and currencies

As the dollar index remained largely rangebound, the US dollar rose marginally, rising 0.04 %, to 91.344 versus a basket of its peers.

The Japanese yen traded at 109.37 per dollar, down from an earlier average of about 109.14, while the Australian dollar fell 0.4 % to $0.7716.

Amid a tense relationship between Beijing and Canberra, China, Australia's main trade partner, is said to have "indefinitely" halted all operations under the China-Australia Strategic Economic Discussion.

During Asian trading hours on Thursday, oil prices recovered from earlier declines. Crude futures in the United States gained 0.14 % to $65.72, while global standard Brent traded 0.22 % up at $69.11 a barrel.

Overnight, Reuters announced that US crude stockpiles dropped by 8 million barrels in its most current week, beating the Energy Information Administration's prediction of a 2.3 million barrel decline.

Shares of Singapore Press Holdings, the issuer of the city-daily state's broadsheet the Straits Times, were suspended from dealing in business news.

The publisher, which also owns a real estate company, announced plans to break off its struggling publishing division into a non-profit corporation.