Nikkei 225, ASX, Hang Seng index

Asia-Pacific markets will open mixed on Thursday, after Wall Street took strong bank gains in a volatile trading session.

Investors have been jittery in recent days as global trade tensions have risen. O Cboe Volatility Index (VIX)known by many as Wall Street’s gauge of fear, has been trending higher over the past week, rising to over 21.6 last Friday, or its highest level since late May. The index ended at 20.6 on Wednesday in the United States.

Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 rose 0.16%. Investors will look to the country’s employment data for September, which will be released later. Economists polled by Reuters expect an unemployment rate of 4.3%, up from 4.2% in August.

The landmark of Japan Nikkei 225 the index was set for a higher open, with its Chicago futures contract trading at 48,180 and its Osaka counterpart at 48,060, compared to the index’s last close of 47,672.67.

from Hong Kong Hang Seng Index it was expected to open lower, with its futures contract trading at 25,848, compared to the index’s previous close of 25,910.6.

U.S. stock futures were little changed in early Asian hours after major banks reported beating earnings as Washington’s government shutdown entered its third week and trade tensions with China persisted.

During the night, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day little changed, only 17.15 points, or 0.04% at 46,253.31. At one point in the day, the 30-share index rose as high as 422.88 points.

O S&P 500 ended 0.4% higher at 6,671.06, after gaining as much as 1.2% intraday. O Nasdaq Composite ended up 0.7% at 22,670.08. It briefly recovered to 1.4%.

– CNBC’s Liz Napolitano and Lisa Kailai Han cocontributioned to this report.