There were mixed results on Wall Street, after promising data from the retail sector was offset by a sell-off in bank shares, as investors locked in recent gains.
The Dow Jones Index fell 18 points to close on Tuesday at 10,526. The Nasdaq Composite rose four points to 2290.
European stocks were flat. The FTSE 100 index in London was 0.03%higher, the DAX in Frankfurt gained 0.2% and the CAC-40 in Paris rose 0.2%.
Across the Tasman, the Australian 200 Index closed up 12 points to 4626.
The NZX 50 closed yesterday up 19 points at 3197
At 8.14am on Wednesday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 73.48 US cents, 78.09 Australian cents, 47.27 pence, 61.1 yen and 0.5657 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 67.42.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US79.53 cents per barrel.
Gold has surged more than 2% to a record price of $US1270 per ounce - its biggest one-day gain in four months.
Gold was trading at $US1272.5 cents per ounce at 6.25am.
