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Options imply share volatility for Nvidia ( NVDA ) earnings

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China's central bank holds lending rates steady

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Wall Street futures up, Asian shares mixed

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Bitcoin not far from record high

(Updates prices as of 0530 GMT)

By Stella Qiu

SYDNEY, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Asian shares were trading

cautiously on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to earnings

results from artificial intelligence darling Nvidia ( NVDA ) where the

risk of disappointment is high, while the dollar steadied after

three straight sessions of declines.

The world's most valuable company Nvidia ( NVDA ) will

report its third-quarter results after the bell. Shares climbed

4.9% on Tuesday and options imply a move of almost 9% either

direction in the $3.6 trillion stock often seen as a barometer

for the tech sector's shift to AI.

Nasdaq futures rose 0.2% on Wednesday on top of a

1% jump overnight. EUROSTOXX 50 futures gained 0.4%,

while FTSE futures were flat.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside

Japan was off 0.1%, and Tokyo's Nikkei

slipped 0.2%.

Bitcoin last held above $92,000, having broken

above $94,000 for the first time overnight on expectations U.S.

President-elect Donald Trump's administration will be

crypto-friendly. Investors are also watching Trump's pick for

Treasury secretary, which may come as soon as Wednesday.

In China, the central bank held benchmark lending rates

steady as widely expected. Chinese mainland stocks outperformed,

with blue chips gaining 0.4%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng

index edged up 0.1%.

"(Nvidia ( NVDA )) was naturally the key topic on everyone's mind.

Big-picture, a nice beat seems widely anticipated tomorrow,"

said Joshua Meyers, executive director at JPMorgan, in a note to

clients.

"FY26 expectations have become quite ebullient, a worry that

comes up increasingly in conversations," Meyers said, adding

that Nvidia ( NVDA ) CEO Jensen Huang's commentary on the earnings call

would be particularly important to "level-set expectations (or

not)."

Overnight, investors were rattled by Ukraine's use of

U.S. missiles to strike Russia, with Moscow lowering the

threshold for a possible nuclear strike, although those fears

seem to have abated a little.

Safe-haven currencies such as the Japanese yen and the Swiss

franc gained briefly, as did U.S. Treasuries. Benchmark 10-year

note yields were last up 2 basis points at 4.4041%,

having fallen 4 bps overnight and still some distance away from

a five-month top of 4.505%.

The dollar also reversed some of the overnight

losses against the yen and was last up 0.2% to 155.03, having

hit a one-week low of 153.28 overnight.

Against its major peers, the U.S. dollar steadied

near one-week lows at 106.23, after three straight sessions of

declines to pull away from a recent top of 107.07.

Oil prices were flat on Wednesday, after edging up just

a little overnight. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures

held at $69.39 a barrel, having ended Tuesday just 0.3%

higher.

Gold climbed for a third straight session, up 0.2% to

$2,636.46 per ounce.