Australia

Australian shares are set to open higher, after a mixed session on Wall Street seeing tech stocks end lower, energy up.

ASX futures were up 0.3% or 22 points as of 8:00am on Thursday, suggesting a higher open.

U.S. stocks ended narrowly mixed as investors look ahead to upcoming inflation and labor data as well as next week's Fed meeting.

DJIA rose 37 points, or 0.1% to 39043, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 5165 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.5% to 16177.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was up 2.5% to US$83.94 a barrel, while gold was up 0.8% at US$2,174.48.

In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds was up at 3.76% while the 10 Year yield was also up at 4.01%. US Treasury notes were up, with the 2 Year yield at 4.63% and the 10 Year yield at 4.19%.

The Australian dollar hit 66.19 US cents up from its previous close of 66.05. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against 16 other currencies, was down at 97.52.

Asia

Chinese shares closed lower, weighed by insurance and real estate stocks. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4%, the Shenzhen Composite Index edged 0.1% lower and the ChiNext Price Index was off 0.6%. Concerns about China's property downturn lingered, with new home sales last week retreating after a mild recovery following the Lunar New Year holidays, Daiwa analysts said in a research note. Meanwhile, reports of Country Garden missing a yuan bond coupon payment due Tuesday weighed on sentiment. Poly Developments & Holdings Group dropped 2.9% and China Vanke was 3.1% lower. Among insurers, China Life Insurance declined 3.5% and Ping An Insurance shed 2.7%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.1% to close at 17082.11, dragged by property stocks. Sentiment was likely weighed by reports of Chinese property developer Country Garden missing a yuan bond coupon payment due Tuesday. Country Garden was down 1.7%. Among other decliners, New World Development fell 3.8%, while China Overseas Land & Investment dropped 2.4%. The Hang Seng Properties Index closed 0.8% lower. Among advancers, Zijin Mining was 3.5% higher, Li Auto rose 3.2% and Xinyi Solar was up 2.8%. The Hang Seng Tech Index rose 0.3% to 3656.30.

Japanese stocks end lower, dragged by falls in shipping and pharmaceutical stocks, as speculation continues about the Bank of Japan's potential shift away from its ultralow interest rate policy. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha sheds 3.7% and Chugai Pharmaceutical drops 3.2%. The Nikkei Stock Average falls 0.3% to 38695.97. Investors are focusing on annual wage negotiations between unions and management in Japan as BOJ officials gauge the strength of wage inflation. The 10-year Japanese government bond yield falls one basis point to 0.755%.

Indian shares closed lower amid concerns about domestic and global inflation. The country's consumer price index in February increased 5.09% on year, government data showed, roughly the same level as 5.10% in January and within the central bank's inflation target range of 2%-6%. Meanwhile, U.S. inflation increased 3.2% on year in February, which is likely to reinforce the Fed's wait-and-see posture toward rate cuts. Among major stocks, Tata Steel was down 5.9%, Tata Motors was 4.3% lower and Wipro declined 1.2%. The benchmark Sensex closed 1.2% lower at 72761.89.

Europe

European shares were mixed, with the STOXX Europe 600 Index up 0.16% to 507.33, the CAC 40 up 0.62% to 8,137.58, and the DAX 40 ending flat at 17,961.38.

The FTSE 100 closed up 0.3% at 7772.17 points on Wednesday, boosted by U.K. GDP growth up 0.2% in January. "While the figure is tiny, the fact it is growing at all is a positive. Investors want the U.K.'s recession status cast into the rear-view mirror so they can focus on how potential looser monetary policy could provide relief to consumers and businesses, and in turn feed into greater economic activity," AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould said. Antofagasta was the day's highest riser, up 5.3%, followed by Glencore and Anglo American, up 4.8% and 4.6% respectively. JD Sports Fashion, Vodafone Group, and Rentokil Initial were the session's biggest fallers, down 4.1%, 4.0% and 3.1% respectively.

North America

U.S. stocks ended narrowly mixed as investors look ahead to upcoming inflation and labor data as well as next week's Fed meeting.

DJIA rose 37 points, or 0.1% to 39043, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 5165 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.5% to 16177.

Four of the S&P 500's 11 sectors finished the day in the red. The declines were led by the information technology sector—the best-performing segment this year and last. Those stocks fell 1.1%.

Chip maker shares helped pull that sector down, including declines from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. The PHLX Semiconductor Index shed 2.5%.

Nvidia, the biggest winner of the artificial-intelligence mania that has powered the stock-market rally, dropped 1.1%.

Energy was the best performing sector, rising 1.5%, while information technology stocks lagged.

Tomorrow's economic reports are expected to show some slowing in core producer prices, while weekly jobless claims are forecast near steady at 218,000.

Oil prices climbed 2.8% on geopolitical tensions and a bullish supply report, while gold prices resume their ascent following yesterday's decline.