The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday she was confident the United States would avoid a debt default.

Federal Reserve officials "generally agreed" last month that the need for further interest rate increases "had become less certain," with several saying that the quarter-percentage-point hike they approved might be the last, according to minutes of the May 2-3 meeting released on Wednesday.

U.S. companies borrowed nearly 8% less in April than last year to finance equipment investments, industry body Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) said on Wednesday.

The central banks of South Korea and Indonesia announce interest rate decisions on Thursday, against a backdrop of growing nervousness across world markets that the U.S. could be sleepwalking to an unprecedented and catastrophic default.

Asian shares fell to a two-month low on Thursday, and the U.S. dollar rose as the impasse in negotiations to raise the U.S. debt ceiling kept investors wary of risky assets due to the hit the global economy will take if the U.S. government defaults.

Oil prices fell slightly in Asian trade on Thursday, capping off three days of gains amid growing pressure from a strong dollar, while uncertainty over the U.S. debt ceiling persisted as a June deadline to reach a deal grew closer.