Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.2 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.08 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.02 percent at 1000 GMT (5 a.m. ET).

U.S. crude prices rose above $91 a barrel, hovering below a 26-month top hit in the previous session, supported by a weaker dollar and hopes that a major snow storm on the U.S. East Coast would stoke demand for heating oil.

The dollar extended its falls against the yen on Tuesday, hitting its lowest in six and a half weeks, as the single currency came under broad selling pressure in thin post-Christmas trade.

Japan's Nikkei average slipped 0.6 percent on Tuesday as falls in Chinese shares and a slightly firmer yen prompted light profit-taking, but it was supported by strong Japanese output data and healthy technical signals.

European shares edged higher, led by healthcare and technology stocks, in holiday-thinned trade on Tuesday with London markets still closed.

Bailed-out insurer American International Group took another step toward winding down its U.S. government support on Monday by securing $4.3 billion of bank credit lines, and company shares surged.

U.S.-based Nasdaq OMX Group is looking at having a second stab at setting up a market in Japan with the Osaka Securities Exchange <8697.OS>, hoping to attract investors from emerging Asian economies, domestic media reported.

China cut its first batch of rare earth export quotas for next year by more than one-tenth, in the face of a threat by the United States to complain to the World Trade Organization over the export limits.

Wall Street erased earlier losses and ended little changed on Monday as investors shrugged off a surprise weekend interest rate hike from China's central bank.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> settled down 20.73 points, or 0.18 percent, at 11,552.76. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 0.74 points, or 0.06 percent, at 1,257.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 4.25 points, or 0.16 percent, at 2,669.85.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Mike Nesbit)

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