Investors tracked a rally on Wall Street fuelled by the figures, while they are now awaiting the release of closely watched inflation data later in the day and then the Federal Reserve's latest policy decision next week.
"The BoC's explicit pause signal has many thinking whether other central banks will do likewise -- note BoC was one of the first to start the initial hiking cycle," said National Australia Bank's Tapas Strickland. Thursday's US growth figures showed a slowdown in 2022 from the previous year but a better-than-expected performance, which was described as a"Goldilocks scenario" -- where the figures are neither too good nor too bad.Still, Strickland warned the labour market, which has remained tight during the pandemic recovery, could be showing signs of softening.
Investors are also keeping a nervous eye on earnings season, which has thrown up some disappointing figures and downbeat forecasts. Hong Kong continued its new year rally, while Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Bangkok, Wellington, Manila and Jakarta were also on the rise.But Mumbai sank around 1.7 percent, dragged by a sell-off in shares of the business empire of Asia's richest man Gautam Adani after his conglomerate was accused of committing"brazen" corporate fraud.