Asian stocks benchmarks were fairly steady Thursday, AP reported. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.3 percent to 19,924.86 and South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.1 percent to 2,361.70. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.2 percent to 26,013.65 and the Shanghai Composite index in mainland China was up less than 0.1 percent to 3,141.18. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was practically unchanged at 5,668.80. Oil futures stabilized after slumping overnight on unexpected news that U.S. crude stockpiles grew 3.3 million barrels last week. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 25 cents to $45.97 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract slid $2.47, or 5.1 percent, to close at $45.72 per barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 41 cents to $48.47 per barrel in London. The dollar slipped to 109.47 yen from 109.83 in late trade Wednesday. The euro strengthened to 1.266 from $1.1262.
