Shares in New York closed little changed from the previous session. After the record-breaking session on Monday, investors seem to want to take a breather ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

After breaking a new record on Monday, recovering all its losses over the summer, the market has been unable to move further.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended the day up 13.13 points at 9314.28

The tech-laden Nasdaq, buoyed by hot Internet stocks, was a stronger performer, up 19.31 to 1985.19.

And the broad-based Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, also turned positive, up 3.61 to 1,186.87.

Advances outnumbered declines by a small margin, with 1540 stocks higher compared to 1431 that finished lower.

"It looks like some position squaring going on ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday," said Bill Meehan, chief market analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.

On-line retailers like Onsale and Books-a-million had a particularly strong day, while America Online was again one of the most actively traded stocks.

Oil and gas stocks showed some strength on rumours of further consolidation in the industry.

Financials were also strong as takeover rumours continued after the merger of Deutsche Bank and Bankers Trust, announced on Monday.