06.03.201406:35:50UTC+00Asian stocks gain relief, euro holds up before ECB

Asian shares could savor a reprieve on Thursday as diplomatic endeavors taper the conflict in Ukraine, while euro is pressured as investors assume if the European Central Bank (ECB) will alleviate policy today.

Any measure the ECB takes to back the still fragile euro zone economy could serve some assets although gains could be restricted before the US payrolls data tomorrow. MSCI's widest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was slightly changed. Japan's Nikkei share average profited 0.3%.

While diplomatic efforts between Moscow and Washington throughout Ukraine made quite obvious progress so far, US Secretary of State John Kerry said negotiations would continue in the next few days. The assurance is sufficient to palliate investors' timely worries of military standoff, directing their focus instead to what steps the ECB might employ to assist the economy and fend off deflation.

The euro traded at $1.3734, somewhat changed but off two-month peak of $1.38255 was touched on Friday. International Monetary Fund officials on Wednesday called the ECB to begin purchasing public and private assets or prolong more cheap long-term loans to banks, as well as reducing interest rates to new record low.

But the ECB is uncertain to follow quantitative easing measures taken by other major central banks such as the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan due to fears on widely various impact such step could impact euro zone debt markets.

Investors will probe the summit of European leaders on Thursday, where they will talk about financial assistance for Ukraine, which is on the edge of bankruptcy after years of financial mismanagement. The EU offered a larger than anticipated package of support to Ukraine on Wednesday, saying it was willing to give $15 billion in loans and grants in the coming years to aid the economy back on its grounds.

With the euro in retreat, the dollar index kept some distance from a two-month low point last week, and was at 80.098, against Friday's low of 79.688.