(Corrects third bullet point to state that Nikkei was lower, not higher)
* Recently battered crude oil futures perk up in thin trade
* Spreadbetters see opening gains for European bourses
* Nikkei lower after Tokyo markets closed for Wed holiday
* Dollar pulls further away from Fed hike-inspired highs
* Wall Street marks third straight rise
By Lisa Twaronite
TOKYO, Dec 24 (Reuters) - An index of Asian shares climbed to 2-1/2-week highs on Thursday, heartened by gains on Wall Street and a recovery in crude oil prices in thin markets ahead of the Christmas holiday.
European markets are expected to open higher on a half-day of Christmas Eve trading. Financial spreadbetters at IG expected Britain's FTSE 100 and France's CAC to rise 0.1 percent each.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.6 percent, after U.S. stocks posted their third straight session of gains.
Australian shares jumped 1.3 percent in a shortened holiday session.
But China's blue-chip CSI300 index and the Shanghai Composite Index were both more than 1 percent lower after regulators tightened rules for insurers investing in listed firms.
U.S. crude futures added 0.7 percent at $37.77 a barrel while Brent crude futures surged 1 percent to $37.74. Both had added more than a dollar a barrel on Wednesday in thin trading, a day after Brent had touched its lowest level since July 2004.
"A sharp decline in weekly crude oil inventories also helped reinforce yesterday's rebound but the rally also needs to be set into the context of thinning pre-holiday volumes as traders look at making a start on various end of year book keeping and position adjustments as markets wind down for the long Christmas break," Michael Hewson, chief analyst at CMC Markets in London, said in a note to clients.
"It is these sorts of end of year adjustments that helps explain to some extent why the biggest risers over the past couple of days have come from the sectors that have seen some of the biggest losses year to date."
Japan's Nikkei erased early gains and slipped 0.5 percent as the yen edged higher in thin trade.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet approved on Thursday a record fiscal 2016 budget that counts on higher growth and tax revenue to achieve Abe's aim of reviving the economy and reining in public debt.
Minutes of the Bank of Japan's November rate review released earlier in the session showed that many policymakers complained of slow wage and capital expenditure growth, but were optimistic that companies will start to boost spending once emerging economies improve.