The ASX's heavyweight banks and miners pulled the market lower on Thursday, after a warning from the US Federal Reserve that it might start tightening up its balance sheet this year spooked investors.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 traded lower most of the day but saw a bit of a revival from noon, ending the day down 0.3 per cent to 5856
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U.S. equities closed well off session highs Thursday after President Donald Trump said he's willing to act alone on North Korea if China does not step up.
"The market just feels like it's a bit twitchy," said Daniel Deming, managing director at KKM Financial. "It had been trying to hold on to those gains all day, but it's thinking that a lot could happen in the next 24 hours."
The Dow Jones industrial average closed about 15 points higher.
The S&P 500 held 0.2 percent higher, with energy leading advancers.
The Nasdaq composite ended 0.25 percent higher.
The three major indexes traded about 0.3 percent higher before Trump's comments.
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Oil prices rose more than 1 percent on Thursday, on track for a fourth straight day of gains, but analysts remained cautious about record-high U.S. crude inventories. Brent crude futures gained 58 cents, or 1.07 percent, to $54.94 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 1.08 percent, or 55 cents a barrel to $51.70. WTI touched a session high of $51.82 a barrel on Thursday.
The gains put crude on track for its best close since a March 8 rout when investors bailed out of bullish positions due to concerns about supply.
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