US investors became unsettled after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke outlined plans for dismantling the bank's economic support measures and indicated that interest rates may soon start rising.
The Dow Jones Index was down 1 point, to 10,058. The Nasdaq Composite was up 1 point, to 2151.
In Europe: FTSE in London was up 8 points, or 0.16%, to 5120 after investors welcomed comments from the Bank of England in its latest inflation report.
The DAX in Frankfurt was up 28 points, or 0.5%, to 5526 and the CAC-40 in Paris was up 13 points, or 0.3%, to 3626.
The Australian 200 Index closed on Wednesday up 8 points, or 0.2%, to 4513.
The NZX 50 closed up 9 points, or 0.3%, to 3086.
At 8.28am on Thursday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 69.37 US cents, 79.17 Australian cents, 44.49 pence, 62.4 yen and 0.5052 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 64.36.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US70.84 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1073.55 per ounce.
