Stock indices on Wednesday

US stock futures are trading higher on Wednesday morning in an attempt to recover from a fall in the previous session over worries about Russian President Vladimir Putin's authorisation to send soldiers to eastern Ukraine.

Major futures indices anticipate a 0.7 per cent rise when the first bell rings on Wall Street.

Oil prices have stabilised despite fears of possible supply disruptions from Russia.

In energy markets, US benchmark crude fell slightly by 70 cents to $91.19 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The contract rose $1.28 on Tuesday to $92.35. Brent crude, the benchmark price for international crude, fell 58 cents to $96.24 a barrel in London. It rose $1.45 to $96.84 in the previous session.

Wednesday morning's earnings chart will include a pair of retailers home improvement chain Lowe's and TJ Maxx, parent company of TJX.

However, after the auction closes, the focus will be on online auctioneer EBay and car rental giant Hertz Global.

In Europe, London's FTSE added 0.3%, Germany's DAX added 0.7% and France's CAC gained 1.1%.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.6% and China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.9%. Japanese markets were closed for the holiday.

The benchmark Wall Street S&P 500 index lost 1 per cent to 4,304.76 points on Tuesday. This puts it 10.3% below its all-time high of January 3 and leads to a correction or decline of at least 10%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.4% to 33,596.61 points. The Nasdaq composite index lost 1.2% to 13,381.52 points.