Asia steadies after surge, dollar supported after Fed minutes

Minutes showed Fed was still on course to hike interest rates this year

Asian stocks steadied on Thursday following Wednesday's surge, while the dollar drew support from minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting showing the Fed was still on course to hike interest rates this year.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed after surging 1.8% the previous day to a seven-month high.

Japan's Nikkei nudged up 0.2% after hitting a 15-year high the previous day. Australian and South Korean shares stood little changed.

Wall Street only posted modest gains overnight after a volatile session following the Fed minutes, failing to give Asia a strong lead.

Fed officials acknowledged risks from overseas and a weak start to the year at their March meeting but remained confident enough in the strength of the recovery to continue laying the groundwork for an interest rate hike later this year, the minutes showed.

"Federal funds rate futures point towards a rate hike in September or later and this would be positive for the global economy. If the markets had to brace for a June rate hike, that would hit US equities by causing volatility in US debt yields. Global equities, especially those of emerging markets, would be destabilised in turn," said Junichi Ishikawa, market analyst at IG Securities in Tokyo.

In currencies, the dollar was little changed at 120.125 yen after falling to as low as 119.65 overnight. The euro was steady at $1.0786 after shedding 0.3% the previous day.

The dollar index inched up 0.1% to 98.052.

Crude oil bounced modestly following a big plunge overnight suffered on a huge rise in US stocks and news of record Saudi oil production. 

US crude was up 1.1% at $50.97 a barrel after shedding nearly 7% overnight.

The oil plunge hit commodity currencies such as the Canadian dollar, which fell as far as C$1.2559 per USD from C$1.2388. It was last at C$1.2554.