The NZX 50 index has fallen 33 points to 3047 on turnover of $34 million.
It closed at 3080 on turnover of $87 million on Monday.
At 1.15pm on Tuesday, Telecom was down 5 cents to $3.27. Contact Energy was down 20c to $7.20 and Fletcher Building was down 6c to $6.19.
Sky City Entertainment was down 7c to $2.95 after confirming on Monday that it will make a profit of between $108 - $110 million.
Goodman Feilder was down 8c to $1.65.
In currency markets: at 1.15pm on Tuesday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at US76.42 cents, 78.67 Australian cents, 38.27 pence, 81.01 yen 0.4801 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 67.57.
The Australian stock market also opened lower.
At 1018 AEST on Tuesday, the S&P/ASX200 index fell 30.3 points, or 0.62%, to 4,890.7 and the broader All Ordinaries lost 28.3 points to 4,979.6.
The September share price index futures contract slipped 52 points to 4,885, on a volume of 5,873 contracts.
The ASX200 Index fell 59 points to close at 4921 on Monday.
Other markets
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 45.35 points, or 0.41%, to 11,055.19. Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 11.19 points, or 0.9%, to 1,228.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 26.21 points, or 1.17%, to 2,212.87.
Trading volume was low on the New York Stock Exchange, with about 1.41 billion shares changing hands. About 2.07 billion shares were traded on the Nasdaq.
However, European shares rose on Monday.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.7% at 1,133.95 points.
In Frankfurt, the DAX index ended at 6200.25 points, up 46.95 or 0.76%. In Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 4142.53 points, up 41.89 or 1.02%. In Zurich, the Swiss market index closed at 6675.26 points, up 36.37 or 0.55%.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 closed up 38.8 points, or 0.7%, at 5,300.4.
