Asian markets took heart from the passing yesterday by the United States Senate and House of Representatives of spending measures designed to reopen the Government.
The Australian market was lacklustre as the minerals sector failed to fire and the New Zealand market was driven by internal factors, Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms said.
Xero had another ''raging day'' - up 14% - after another public briefing by chief executive Rod Drury, and Port of Tauranga shares were in demand. Locally, Pacific Edge had a strong day, he said.
Yesterday, Pacific Edge shares were up 10% after opening, before settling at 69c, or 3% up on Wednesday. They were still in the top three gainers during the day. More than 1.2 million shares traded for more than $800,000, compared with $1.4 million traded the day before.
Mr Timms said the US had only delayed the inevitable re-run of the debt ceiling debate until next year.
The Bill President Barack Obama promised to sign immediately provided government funding until January 15 and the borrowing limit had been extended until February 7. Republicans dropped efforts to link the legislation to changes in Mr Obama's signature healthcare law.
''The deal offers only a temporary fix and does not resolve the fundamental issues of spending and deficits that divide Republicans and Democrats,'' Mr Timms said. He expected a rally overnight after US stocks surged yesterday, nearing an all-time high.
Harbour Asset Management spokesman Christian Hawkesby said markets faced a period where it might be harder than usual to gauge the performance of the US economy. Some economic statistics were still unavailable and others skewed by the temporary effects of federal workers leaving and returning to the workforce.
''This will put a greater onus on other indicators of economic momentum. We have now entered the US earnings season and some of the strength of US equities overnight was due to companies beating earnings expectations.''
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's said the partial US government shutdown had taken $US24 billion ($NZ28.5 billion) out of the economy and would cut growth in the fourth quarter significantly.
S&P warned of more possible damage if the political battle over the budget and debt ceiling resumed in January, further scaring consumers, especially government workers laid off without pay during the shutdown.
The impact of the two-week-old shutdown would take about 0.6% off fourth-quarter growth.
That would leave annualised growth in the October-December period at close to a sluggish 2% rate, the ratings agency said.
The fall in growth was mostly due to the furlough of hundreds of thousands of civil servants, as well as affected government contractors, because the Congress could not agree a budget for the 2014 fiscal year that began October 1.
The civil servants had not been paid for their weeks off, but Congress was expected to reinstate their wages.
With that money back in their pockets, some economists had forecast a bounce-back in the economy in the first quarter. But S&P pointed out the deal reached tentatively in Congress would fund the Government only until January 15, and raise the debt ceiling to February 7.
''That portends, potentially, a fresh political crisis over both, and could frighten consumers from spending during the first quarter as well.
''The bottom line is the government shutdown has hurt the US economy,'' S&P said.
''If people are afraid that the government policy brinkmanship will resurface again, and with it the risk of another shutdown or worse, they'll remain afraid to open up their cheque books. That points to another humbug holiday season.''
