Japanese stocks end the day lower but Asian equities are seeing a slight lift towards the closing stages today, after tracking the losses in Wall St overnight earlier.

The Hang Seng is up 0.4% while the Shanghai Composite is up 0.5% currently, trading closer to the highs as we approach the latter stages of the day.

Elsewhere, US futures are keeping calmer after the retreat yesterday with S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures seen closer to flat levels at the moment.

In the currencies space, the dollar held up somewhat after a bit of an early decline in Asia and Europe yesterday but finds itself vulnerable once again in trading today.