Stocks on Wall Street were flat on Thursday as disappointing data on the labor market offset strong results from Caterpillar.
Shares in US defence companies rose after Lockheed Martin and Raytheon posted higher sales figures.
The Dow Jones Index was up 11 points, to 11,997. The Nasdaq Composite is up 18 points, to 2757.
European markets were also flat. The FTSE 100 in London ended down 4 points at 5,979.
In Japan, the Nikkei closed up 76 points at 10,478. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong ended down slightly at 23,779.
Across the Tasman, the Australian 200 Index closed down 1 point, at 4806 on Thursday. The NZX50 lost 3 points, to close at 3350.
At 8.13am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 77.28 US cents, 77.90 Australian cents, 48.50 pence, 63.98 yen and 0.5631 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 68.87.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US96.54 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1318.50 per ounce.
