Chinese stocks and the Australian dollar will be firmly in focus with trade data due shortly. Economists will be watching the trade breakdowns carefully to see whether the yuan's recent weakness has had a beneficial impact.
Asian stocks held near three-week lows and the greenback consolidated recent gains on Thursday after minutes of the last US Federal Reserve policy meeting indicated a December rate increase was still on the cards.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 0.09 percent, to 18,144.2. The S&P 500 gained 0.11 percent, to 2,139.17 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC slipped 0.15 percent, to 5,239.02 with corporate earnings firmly in focus. Volumes were light.
