Stocks in the United States fell further on Thursday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the bank would spare no effort to boost the economy, but gave no details.
The Dow Jones Index was down 119 points, or 1%, at 11,296. The Nasdaq Composite was down 20 points, or 1%, at 2529.
The Nikkei in Tokyo gained 29 points to 8,793 and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended down 135 points at 19,912.
Earlier, the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.4% for a third consecutive day. The CA-40 in Paris also rose 0.4% and the DAX in Frankfurt was flat.
Across the Tasman, the Australian 200 Index rose 5 points to 4188 on Thursday. The NZX 50 rose 7 points to 3308.
At 8.15am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 83.14 US cents, 78.63 Australian cents, 52.07 pence, 64.47 yen and 0.5987 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 72.26.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US119.83 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1857.39 per ounce.
