On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 47.29 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 39,807.37, the S&P 500 gained 5.86 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 5,254.35 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 20.06 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 16,379.46.
Heightened focus was on the yen, which last weakened 0.05 per cent against the greenback at 151.38 per dollar, having slid to a 34-year low of 151.975 in the previous session. Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Wednesday that recent disappointing inflation data affirms the case for the central bank to hold off on cutting its short-term interest rate target, but he did not rule out trimming rates later in the year.MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 0.01 points, or basically no change, to 782.93. The index was set to post a gain of over 7 per cent for the first quarter.