* Asia ex-Japan, Nikkei little changed after mixed Wall Street
* European markets set for mixed open
* Dollar uncertain as Fed minutes fail to offer direction
* Oil recovers after surprise drop in U.S. crude inventories
By Nichola Saminather
SINGAPORE, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Asian stocks steadied on Thursday after earlier losses, aided by a weaker dollar as markets studied Federal Reserve meeting minutes that indicated both readiness and caution over raising interest rates.
European markets were headed for a mixed start, with financial spreadbetter CMC Markets expecting Britain's FTSE 100 to open 0.3 percent lower, and Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 to start the day slightly higher.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was unchanged, hovering near the highest level since July 2015 it hit on Wednesday. Earlier, the index lost as much as 0.15 percent.
Japan's Nikkei closed fractionally lower, while Australian shares ended the day down 0.35 percent.
South Korean shares were little changed after the central bank kept interest rates steady at 1.25 percent, as expected, for an eighth straight month.
China's CSI 300 index, which touched a 2-1/2 month high earlier on Thursday, was 0.5 percent lower after regulators circulated a draft of new rules for the asset management industry aimed a curbing financial risks.
Hong Kong shares, which early on Thursday touched their highest level since September, pulled back to trade 0.3 percent below Wednesday's close.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up almost 0.2 percent, its ninth straight record-close.
That optimism however, didn't flow through to other indexes, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both closing about 0.1 percent lower.
The dollar teetered between slight gains and losses as investors took note of Fed policymakers' uncertainty over a lack of clarity on President Donald Trump's economic program. Voting members generally saw only a "modest risk" of inflation increasing significantly and believed the Fed would have "ample time" to respond if it did.
The greenback's earlier gains were driven by parts of the minutes of the Fed's Jan. 31-Feb. Meeting, which said it may be appropriate to raise rates again "fairly soon" should jobs and inflation data be in line with expectations.
"A look at the market's reaction would suggest that the perception of the minutes was a relatively dovish one," Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG in Singapore, wrote in a note. "This is in comparison to hawkish expectations following Fed chair Janet Yellen's address last week."