Though the ECB kept its interest rates unchanged, investors will be interested to hear what its president, Mario Draghi, says in his ensuing press conference. With inflation low and most activity indicators pointing to tepid economic growth, most think he will indicate that further easing measures are possible in the months ahead.

"The pressure on the central bank to take more action to support the euro-zone's fragile recovery is likely to continue to build," said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics. "While Draghi will no doubt reiterate the message at the press conference that the ECB still has a 'powerful artillery' of policy weapons at its disposal, he may not give any firm indications of further action."

Ahead of Draghi's remarks, European markets were solid, if unspectacular. Germany's DAX rose 0.3 percent to 9,524 while the CAC-40 in France was steady at 4,262. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.2 percent higher at 6,733.

The euro was solid ahead of Draghi's press briefing, trading 0.3 percent higher at $1.3614.

Wall Street was poised to open higher, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.3 percent.

On Wednesday, most stock markets struggled amid concerns that the Federal Reserve will reduce its monetary stimulus more aggressively than anticipated because of the strength of the U.S. economy.

At its last policy meeting in December, the Fed took its first step to exit its current stimulus by deciding to trim its purchases by $10 billion to $75 billion this month. The money created by the stimulus has helped increase liquidity through the global financial system, and given stocks a boost.

How the stimulus is reduced over the coming months will likely hinge on the state of the U.S. labor market. In that context, official payrolls data Friday will be closely monitored.

Earlier in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 shed 1.5 percent to 15,880.3 and China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8 percent to 2,027.62. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.9 percent to 22,787.33.

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