Asian shares reversed course, sneaking higher as speculation about a trade link being set up between China and Hong Kong by year end lifted China's Shanghai index 1.10%. Japan's Nikkei rose to its highest in ten weeks, gaining 0.93% for the day. Australia's S&P\ASX 200 index rose 0.32%, while Korea's KOSPI fell 0.37%. India's Nifty lost a meager 0.15%.

Wall Street ended Thursday's trading with modest losses, with Dow Jones down 4 points, or 0.02% to 17,863. S&P 500 fell 2.3 points, or 0.11% to 2,099. NASDAQ fell 14 points, or 0.29% to 5,127.

Dollar was almost flat against a basket of its major peers, rising 0.01% to 98.10. It rose 0.01% against Euro to 1.0882. It touched a fresh three-week high against Sterling at 1.5205. It rose 0.06% against Yen to 121.82.

Sterling stabilized after big losses yesterday. It rose 0.04% against Yen to 185.21. It was almost flat against Euro at 0.7158.

Brent futures for December gained 21 cents, or 0.44% to $48.32 a barrel. U.S. futures for December rose 30 cents, or 0.67% to $45.51 a barrel.

Canadian dollar was flat, trading at C$1.3168 per dollar, while Australian dollar rose 0.04% to $0.7146.

Gold futures are up 4 dollars, or 0.35% to $1,108.10 an ounce. Silver futures gained 2 cents, or 0.11% to $15 an ounce.

From U.K., Manufacturing production for September is forecast to come at 0.4% m\m, a touch less than August's 0.5%. A positive result would help Sterling recover from its dismal lows.

From U.S., the all important Non-Farm Payrolls is forecast to come at 181K for October. Coming at, or beating the forecast will almost certainly cause a drop in world stocks since it'd raise the possibilities for a rate hike in December.

From Canada, unemployment rate is forecast to be 7.1% for October, same as last month's, a lower result would push the loonie higher.