By Lisa Twaronite
TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks got off to a weak start on Thursday, as uncertainty on when the U.S. Federal Reserve may start to pare back its stimulus offset any cheer from a brighter economic picture in Europe.
The dollar was also on the defensive, mainly hamstrung by the lack of clarity around the Fed's stimulus plans in the coming months.
It sank about 0.2 percent against its Japanese counterpart to 97.90 yen, and pressured Tokyo's Nikkei stock average down 1.3 percent, off a one-week closing high hit on Wednesday, with thin summer conditions amplifying moves.
"Due to thin trade, we need to brace for unpredictable moves in late trade such as leveraged ETF trade and futures trade by program traders," said Toshihiko Matsuno, a senior strategist at SMBC Friend Securities.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped slightly in early trading and then was flat.
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Against a basket of major currencies, the dollar fell about 0.1 percent as the euro rose about 0.1 percent to $1.3265.
Data on Wednesday showed that the economies of Germany and France grew more quickly than expected in the second quarter, pulling the euro zone out of an 18-month recession.
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes edged away from nearly two-year highs hit earlier this week. A sell-off of U.S. Treasuries on Monday and Tuesday saw yields post their biggest two-day increase since early July on speculation that signs of U.S. and European economic growth might lead the Fed to taper its $85 billion-a-month in asset purchases as early as September.
A Reuters poll released on Wednesday showed a majority of economists expect the Fed to reduce bond purchases at its September 17-18 policy meeting.
Recent U.S. data have supported appeared to back both an early and late start to reducing the Fed's stimulus, with comments from several Fed officials doing little to clarify the policy outlook.
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Wednesday that the Fed risks pushing inflation even lower if it tapers bond purchases too aggressively, and could take a more cautious approach by initially only scaling back by a small amount.
U.S. producer prices were flat in July, data on Wednesday showed, suggesting domestic inflation will likely stay below the Fed's 2 percent target for the foreseeable future.
Data on Thursday will include the July consumer price index, industrial production, jobless claims for the most recent week and a U.S. mid-Atlantic business survey.
In commodities markets, copper added 0.2 percent to $7,332.25 a tonne, while gold firmed to $1,341.30 per ounce.
Brent crude prices rose 0.2 percent to $110.44 a barrel.
(Additional reporting by Ayai Tomisawa in Tokyo; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)