NEW YORK, New York - Wall Street took a breather on Thursday, a day after the major indices hit record intra-day highs.

The Dow Jones closed with a loss Thursday of 12.37 points or 0.04 percent at 31,176.01.

The Standard and Poor's 500 was flat, adding just 1.22 points or 0.03 percent to 3,853.07.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 73.67 points or 0.55 percent to 13,530.92.

The U.S. dollar remained under pressure Thursday. The euro crept up to1.2166. The British pound was well bid at 1.3730. The Japanese yen was robust at 103.50. The Swiss traded higher at 0.8851.

The Canadian dollar edged up to 1.2630. The Australian dollar was stronger at 0.7766. The New Zealand dollar strengthened to 0.7204.

"The market is hopeful that the Biden administration will continue to increase fiscal stimulus. Because interest rates and inflation haven't accelerated, this is giving him confidence that he could do even more," Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Global Advisors in Boston told Reuters Thomson Thursday.

"It's interesting that the stay-at-home technology companies have retaken leadership. It shows that there are concerns that exiting the pandemic will be a bit bumpier and might take longer," Arone added.

Overseas markets were just as listless. The FTSE 100 in London lost 0.37 percent. The German Dax was down 0.11 percent. The Paris-based CAC 40 declined 0.67 percent.

On Asian markets, the Hong Kong key index, the Hang Seng broke through the 30,000 barrier, but was unable to sustain that level, closing down 34.71 points or 0.12 percent at 29,927.76.

China's Shanghai Composite gained 38.17 points or 1.07 percent to3,621.26.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 123.40 points or 0.43 percent to 28,756.86.

The Australian All Ordinaries climbed 56.10 points or 0.80 percent to 7,107.10.