jan 26 reuters  new zealand shares traded flat on wednesday hovering near their 10month lows as investors looked to the us federal reserve for signs of a quickerthanexpected rate hike with trading subdued owing to closure of australian equity markets the benchmark spnzx 50 index nz50 was up 1174 points to 1213995 at 2228 gmt lingering near its lowest level since march 9 it touched on monday about 31 million shares changed hands in early trade compared with the 30day average of 215 million markets in australia axjo were closed for a public holiday investors now await us federal reserves decision expected later in the day which would likely flesh out timing on expected rate hikes and dwindling of its massive balance sheet new zealand has imposed restrictions starting this week limiting gathering after a cluster of nine cases of the omicron variant showed community transmission prompting a move to a red setting under its covid19 protection framework on wednesday electricity generator meridian energy melnz and ryman healthcare rymnz jumped 14 each with meridian snapping a threeday losing streak air new zealand airnz advanced as much as 18 to mark its best intraday jump since jan 5 while infrastructure investor infratil ltd iftnz gained as much as 08 in its second straight day of gains among losers infant formula maker a2 milk co atmnz fell as much as 33 after advancing 6 in the previous session after a media report flagged it could be a possible buyout target for canadian dairy firm saputo inc sapto auckland international airport aianz and smartpay holdings spynz were also among the top weights on the benchmark declining 2 and 25 respectively reporting by sameer manekar in bengaluru editing by lincoln feast