Stocks have fallen on Wall St after the latest failed attempt to halt an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico clouded future prospects for energy company profits.
The Dow Jones Index was down 112 points on Tuesday to close at 10,024. The Nasdaq Composite was down 35 points at 2233.
In Europe: the FTSE 100 index in London fell 0.5%, the CAC-40 in Paris fell 0.1% and the DAX in Frankfurt was down 0.3%.
Earlier, in Toyko, the NIkkei was down 57 points to 9711.
The Australian 200 Index was down 17 points, or 0.4%, to 4413.
The NZX 50 index fell 6 points, or 0.2%, to close at 3054 on turnover of $20 million.
At 8.15am on Wednesday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 67.52 US cents, 81.17 Australian cents, 46.08 pence, 61.45 yen and 0.5516 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 65.82.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US72.84 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1222.80 per ounce.
