The New Zealand sharemarket has had another bout of weakness following a sharp fall on Wall Street.
The benchmark NZX-50 index has fallen 42 points or 0.7 percent, as it wiped out the modest gains of the past two days and fell to levels seen before Christmas.
Market analysts are blaming tumbling oil prices, which have hit 12 year lows, and worries, either real or imagined, about the outlook for the Chinese economy as the main reasons for the current turbulence.
The fear factor appears to be widespread and New Zealand is being battered along with the rest.
So far this year the top 50 index has managed just two positive days in nearly two weeks and has fallen close to 4 percent since it hit record levels at the end of last year.
