The New Zealand market was down 28 points, or 1%, to close at 2990 on a light turnover of $58 million on Wednesday.
Top stocks were mainly lower. Telecom was down 7 cents at $2.81, Fletcher Building fell 20c to $7.07 and Contact Energy was 7 cents lower at $6.22.
Auckland International Airport was down 2c to $1.71, but Air New Zealand rose 3c to $1.07.
The Australian share market was down more than half a percent amid profit-taking in the resources sector.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed down 26.7 points, or 0.64%, at 4142.8 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index lost 25.1 points, or 0.6%, to 4148.9 points.
Japanese share prices closed up 0.26% in cautious trade as investors braced for a raft of earnings results from some of the country's biggest companies.
The benchmark Nikkei-225 index edged up 25.98 points to end at 10,113.24. The broader Topix index of all first section shares gained 0.23 points, or 0.02%, to 930.36.
