Stocks in the United States jumped more than 1% in early trading on Wednesday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that interest rates will remain at record lows for an extended period.
The Dow Jones index was down up 91 points, or 0.9%, to 10,374 and the Nasdaq was up 25 points, or 1.1%, to 2238.
Shares in Britain also closed higher, buoyed by Mr Bernanke's comments.
The FTSE 100 index rose 27 points, or 0.5% to 5342.
On Wednesday, the NZX 50 closed up 4 points, or 0.1%, to 3130 on turnover of $87 million.
At 8am on Thursday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 69.37 US cents, 77.62 Australian cents, 45.01 pence, 62.54 yen and 0.5120 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 64.40.
Earlier, Brent crude oil was trading at $US77.34 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1096 per ounce.
