An earnings report, after the U.S. close, from Micron will be the next guide for mood and direction in the sector and focus is on whether the chipmaker announces long-term supply deals and upfront payments from big customers.
The threshold for disappointment could be pretty low, with positioning stretched. Bank of America's June survey of fund managers found 80% think long semiconductors is the most crowded trade, a record reading.
The same survey showed more than half of respondents think now is the "boom" phase of the investment cycle in artificial intelligence and not yet the euphoria or profit-taking, displacement or panic stages of a bursting asset-price bubble.
Index provider MSCI left Indonesia in the purgatory of its review of market classification, saying investors are waiting to see whether reforms on free float and ownership disclosure deliver a more liquid and transparent market.
The outcome had stocks wobbly in Jakarta.
Germany's Ifo survey of business conditions is due later in the day, with slight improvement expected. The euro, however, remains under pressure from a U.S. dollar that is supported by pricing for several central bank interest rate hikes this year.
The yen held at 160.56 in Asia as this week's online discussion between Minister of Finance Satsuki Katayama and U.S. counterpart Scott Bessent had investors leery of possible joint intervention to support the Japanese currency.
Japan plans to examine ways to improve management of its $1.3 trillion foreign exchange reserves, according to a draft report reviewed by Reuters on Wednesday, a war chest which at the moment is believed to be mainly held as U.S. Treasuries.
