)
Asian stocks got off to sluggish start on Thursday as investors hunkered down to take the latest pulse on the US economy and implications for the Federal Reserve's easy money policy, while the euro perked up ahead of the European Central Bank meeting.
All eyes will be on Friday's nonfarm payrolls data for further gauge on when the Fed will begin winding down its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying programme.
Before that, investors will look to the first reading of US third-quarter GDP data later in the day. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a 2.0% annualised pace of growth compared with a 2.5% rate in the second-quarter.
"Markets were range bound ahead of the ECB and US GDP data tonight, and US payrolls on Friday," ANZ bank analysts said in a note.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched down 0.1% after snapping a four-day losing streak on Wednesday with a flat performance.
The single currency hovered near one-week highs against the dollar as strong German data prompted investors to scale back expectations of an ECB rate cut at its policy meeting later in the global day.
"Had the PMIs stepped down sharply, the ECB could have justified a cut, especially given last week's inflation print," analysts at JPMorgan wrote in a note.
"The recent data enables them to wait till December and announce the rate cut as part of their broader inflation/growth forecasting exercise."
The euro was steady at $1.3515, having risen 0.3% on Wednesday on the back of the slight shift in expectations.
The single currency was also aided by new research papers from two of the Fed's top staff economists for more aggressive action by the US central bank to drive down unemployment by promising to hold interest rates lower for longer.
That helped drive US stocks firmer overnight, with the Dow Jones industrial average at a record high, while the S&P 500 index closed shy of its own record.
US S&P E-mini futures dipped 0.2% in early Asian trade on Thursday.
Australian shares slipped 0.2% as index heavyweights National Australia Bank Ltd
Among commodities, US crude prices added 0.1% to around $94.9 a barrel, building on Wednesday's 1.7% from four-month lows on unexpectedly large fall in US fuel supplies.
Gold took a pause after gaining 0.5% overnight to around $1,318 an ounce.
