Euro regained its footing against the dollar ahead of a periodic meeting by the European Central Bank, at which it is expected to keep interest rates unchanged despite the Britain's vote to exit the European Union, which buoyed the common currency.

Euro last traded at 1.1033 against the dollar, up 0.17% in the day, and away from a one-month low hit yesterday 1.0979, while the common currency climbed 0.34% versus the flailing British pound to trade at 0.8365.

Asian shares surged to multi-month highs on expectations of stimulus plans from Japan to boost their morbid economy, with Japan's Nikkei index up 0.77% at 16,810, while China's Shanghai Composite index gained 0.37%. Australian shares rose 0.43% as well.

Oil prices were largely flat for the day after Wednesday's gains on U.S. inventory drawdown, with U.S. crude futures up eight cents, or 0.17% at $45.83 a barrel, while Brent crude futures advanced four cents, or 0.08% to hover around $47.22 a barrel.

Investors await a stream of data later, with U.S. unemployment claims expected to to jump to 271 thousand last week from the previous reading's 254K, but still below 300K, which is largely positive for the economy.

U.S. existing home sales are forecast to have fallen to an annualized 5.48 million units in June from May's 5.53M, which would cloud an otherwise bright picture for the housing sector in the world's largest economy.