The three stock indexes in the United States extended their declines after the explosions near the finish line of the Boston marathon.
Earlier on Monday, big drops in the price of gold and other commodities triggered a broad selloff in equities.
The Dow Jones Index was down 266 points, or 1.8%, at 14,599.
The Nasdaq Composite is down 78 points, or 2.4%, at 3,216.
The FTSE index in London was down 0.64%, the DAX in Frankfurt was down 0.42% and the CAC-40 in Paris was down 0.5%.
The Australian 200 Index closed on Monday down 45 points, or nearly 1%, at 4,968
The NZX 50 was up 18 points, or nearly 0.5%, at 4,454.
The New Zealand dollar was trading at 83.86 US cents, 81.42 Australian cents, 54.86 pence, 81.01 yen and 0.6429 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 77.22.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US100.67 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1364.40 per ounce.
