Japanese equities looked set to dip.
Nikkei futures in Chicago were off by 0.07 percent at 20,125 and Osaka futures shed 0.14 percent to trade at 20,110. Both were lower than the Nikkei 225’s Wednesday close of 20,138.79.
Australian SPI futures sank 0.77 percent to trade at 5,622 against the S&P/ASX 200’s last close of 5,665.721.
On Wall Street, equities ended mostly lower as energy stocks remained under pressure due to low oil prices.
The Dow Jones industrial average declined 0.27 percent or 57.11 points to close at 21,410.03 and the S&P 500 dipped 0.06 percent or 1.42 points to end at 2,435.61. The Nasdaq rose 0.74 percent or 45.92 points to close at 6,233.95.
The dollar traded at 97.552 against a basket of rivals, edging lower from a high of 97.802 seen overnight. The greenback was slightly softer against the yen, which traded 111.34 to the dollar at 6:35 a.m. HK/SIN.
The New Zealand dollar traded as high as $0.7275 after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand kept interest rates on hold compared to levels around the $0.721 handle seen earlier. The Kiwi dollar last traded at $0.7240.
On the economic calendar for Thursday, the Philippine central bank makes its policy decision at 4:00 p.m. HK/SIN. Hong Kong releases first quarter current account data at 4:30 p.m. Taiwan’s central bank will announce its policy decision after the market close at 5:25 p.m.