Asian equities rose Thursday morning as investors cheered a pause in the global bond selloff, while oil declined.

Comments from New York Fed President John Williams in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday soothed concerns over an imminent interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve and helped to buoy sentiment in equity and bond markets. Williams indicated that he doesn't see clear-cut evidence currently that the Fed must lift interest rates to respond to persistent inflation.

Williams is the No. 2 member of the Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee and has often represented the thinking of Fed officials near the center of the policy debate.

"Fed funds futures modestly reduced rate hike expectations to 37.8bp of tightening for this year, compared with 40bp earlier in the week," OCBC Group Research's global markets team said in a note.

South Korea's Kospi rose 1.7%, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average edged 0.2% higher and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.7%. Taiwan's Taiex advanced 0.6%, Singapore's FTSE Straits Times Index edged 0.3% higher and Malaysia's FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up 0.2%.

Yields on Japan's 10-year government bonds fell 4 basis points to 2.970% on Thursday morning after touching a three-decade high of 3.015% on Wednesday. Yields on Australia's two-year and 10-year sovereign securities were down 5 basis points and 4 basis points, respectively, at 4.7890% and 5.1620%. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

Crude oil futures declined in Asia after closing higher overnight for a third consecutive session. However, losses could be limited by ongoing worries over further escalation in strikes between the U.S. and Iran and disruptions to oil flows out of the Middle East.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures declined 0.3% to $90.75 per barrel and front-month Brent crude oil futures fell 0.4% to $95.21 a barrel, according to ICE data.

Meanwhile, the yen consolidated against the dollar Thursday after the Japanese currency strengthened to a two-week high versus the greenback on Wednesday.

"The yen's sharp move [overnight] briefly raised speculation that Japanese authorities had conducted a rate check, although there was no clear evidence of fresh intervention," Commerzbank Research analysts said in a note.

The dollar was recently 0.1% lower at 158.59 yen after touching 158.29 yen on Wednesday, the lowest intraday level since Aug. 20, LSEG data showed.