Australia

Australian shares are set to open higher, after major US stock averages ended narrowly mixed as traders awaited Nvidia earnings after the bell.

ASX futures were up 0.13% or 11 points as of 8:00am on Thursday, suggesting a higher open.

Major stock indexes in the U.S. finished mixed Wednesday with the Nasdaq Composite Index dropping 0.1%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index was flat, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%. All three of the major U.S. indexes fell last week.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was down 0.2% to US$73.14 a barrel, while gold was up 0.7% to US$2,649.68.

The Australian dollar was at 64.97 US cents, down from its previous close of 65.30.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.7% to 3,367.99, and the Shenzhen Composite Index added 1.4% to 2,037.66.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 0.2% to 19,705.01.

Japanese shares closed lower. The Nikkei Stock Average lost 0.2% to 38,352.34.

India shares ended higher. The BSE SENSEX increased 0.3% to 77,578.38.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index fell 0.2% to 8,085.07.

In Europe, shares closed lower. Germany's DAX dropped 0.3% to 19,004.78, and France's CAC 40 slipped 0.4% to 7,198.45.

North America

U.S. stocks ended mixed. The DJIA rose 0.3% to 43,408.47, the S&P 500 was flat at 5,917.11, and the Nasdaq fell 0.1% to 18,966.14.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Keysight Technologies Inc, surging 8.78%, Humana Inc jumped 5.83%, and CoStar Group Inc lifted 5.80%.

The biggest decliners were Target Corp which dropped 21.36%, Super Micro Computer Inc fell 9.46%, and Qualcomm Inc lost 6.45%.