Asia stocks poised to slip as investors digest Fed minutes

Stocks in Asia looked set to trade lower on Thursday following a choppy session on Wall Street, which left shares closing slightly higher as traders tried to interpret a release from the Federal Reserve.

Nikkei futures pointed to an early decline in Japan, with the Chicago futures contract trading at 21,385, lower than the benchmark index's last close at 21,431.49.

The ASX 200 in Australia rose around 0.2 percent as the heavily weighted financial subindex added 0.53 percent. Shares of the country's so-called Big Four banks mostly gained: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group advanced 0.77 percent, Commonwealth Bank of Australia added 0.75 percent, Westpac climbed 0.3 percent. Shares of the National Australia Bank dipped fractionally.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite closed just above the flatline at 7,489.07, notching its eighth consecutive gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 63.12 points to close at 25,954.44 and the S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to finish at 2,784.70.

The moves followed the release of minutes from the Fed's January meeting, which highlighted downside risks, including "the possibilities of a sharper-than-expected slowdown in global economic growth, particularly in China and Europe, a rapid waning of fiscal policy stimulus, or a further tightening of financial market conditions." The minutes showed extensive discussion of market conditions, particularly on the emphasis that Fed actions were having on prices of risky assets like stocks and corporate bonds.

The Fed also judged that a "patient" approach to interest rate hikes would be prudent as it continued to weigh various headwinds to growth.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.512 after seeing lows below 96.4 earlier.

The Japanese yen traded at 110.80 against the dollar after touching highs below 110.7 in the previous session. The Australian dollar was at $0.7164 after seeing lows around $0.714 yesterday.

— CNBC's Jeff Cox contributed to this report.

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