Stocks on Wall Street have been mixed, as investors absorbed news that the Federal Reserve may provide more help to the economy if necessary.
Adobe Systems and Microsoft were at the forefront of a tech-led decline, after disappointing results and dividend news.
The Dow Jones Index closed down 21 points on Wednesday, at 10,739. The Nasdaq Composite lost 14 points, to close at 2334.
Earlier, in London, the FTSE 100 ended on 5,551, down 24 points.
The Nikkei in Tokyo closed on 9,566, down 35 points. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong finished on 22,047, up 45 points.
Across the Tasman, the Australian 200 Index gained seven points, to 4625.
The NZX 50 closed flat at 3236 on turnover of $77 million.
At 8.05am on Thursday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 73.79 US cents, 77.20 Australian cents, 47.11 pence, 62.37 yen and 0.5509 euro.
The Trade Weighted Index was at 67.04.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US77.90 per barrel.
Gold set another record on Wednesday, breaking through the $US1296 US mark. The metal was later trading at $US1290.40 per ounce.
