(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures gained on Thursday as the latest economic report made a case for interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, while investors awaited more data and comments from policymakers for clues on the timing. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed higher on Wednesday after data showed the U.S. services industry growth slowed further in March...

The CNN Money Fear and Greed index showed some improvement in overall market sentiment on Wednesday, but it remained in the Greed zone. U.S. stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones index recording losses for the third consecutive session. On the economic data front, private businesses in the U.S. added 184,000 workers in March, compared to a revised...

(Updates with closing prices) TOKYO, April 4 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average ended higher on Thursday, as investors scooped up stocks following a heavy profit-booking sell-off earlier this week as the new financial year started. The Nikkei rose 0.81% to close at 39,773.14, after rising as much as 2% to cross 40,000. The broader Topix ended 0.94% higher at...

MOSCOW, April 4 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble weakened slightly against the U.S. dollar on Thursday. By 0715 GMT, the rouble was 0.17% down at 92.47 to the dollar after trading in a range of 92.288 to 92.480. Against the euro, the rouble weakened by 0.32% to 100.16 and dropped 0.11% to 12.74 against the yuan . Brent crude oil,...