Gold surged to a new historic peak on Thursday, breaching the $5,500 per ounce level, bolstered by the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to maintain its current interest rate policy. The precious metal rose more than 3% following the Fed's announcement to keep its benchmark rate in the 3.5% to 3.75% range.

The move in bullion contrasted with a mixed session across Asia-Pacific equity markets. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.69%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 reversed early gains to close 0.14% lower. South Korea's Kospi ended flat, though the small-cap Kosdaq index advanced 1.87%.

Individual stock moves were highlighted by Samsung Electronics, which opened higher after reporting a more than threefold surge in fourth-quarter profit, fueled by a memory chip shortage and strong AI server demand, before paring gains to trade slightly lower.

Investor attention remained fixed on Indonesia, where trading was halted after the Jakarta Composite index plunged over 8% on Wednesday. The sell-off was triggered by index provider MSCI warning of a potential downgrade of the country to frontier-market status. In response, Goldman Sachs downgraded Indonesian equities to "underweight," citing expectations of further passive fund selling.

In other regional developments, Singapore's central bank left its monetary policy unchanged but warned of upside inflation risks amid a resilient economic outlook.

Overnight, U.S. equities showed resilience. The S&P 500 briefly touched the 7,000 milestone for the first time before closing marginally lower. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.17%. The Fed's policy statement noted economic expansion at a "solid pace," with Chair Jerome Powell commenting that current policy may not be "significantly restrictive," contributing to a rise in Treasury yields.