Stocks in the United States declined last week as Democrat and Republican lawmakers struggled to agree on an emergency funding bill to avert a shutdown by the federal government.
The Dow Jones Index on Friday closed down 70 points, or nearly 0.46%, to 15,258
The S&P 500 Index closed down 7 points or 0.4%, at 1,692
The Nasdaq Composite ended 6 points down or 0.1%, at 3,781.
The FTSE 100 in London was down 0.81% and the Dax in Frankfurt was down 0.03%, but the CAC-40 in Paris was unchanged.
The Australian 200 Index closed up 12 points, or 0.2%, at 5,307. And the NZX 50 closed up 17 points, or 0.4% at 4,783 on Friday.
At 8.30am on Monday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 82.64 cents, 88.9 Australian cents, 80.63 yen, 51.3 pence and 0.6134 euro.
''Investors are now holding their breath to see if a partial US government shutdown can be averted. At this stage, it looks as if we will get a shutdown of some sort," Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Mike Jones said in a note.
"With markets nervous and risk aversion on the ascendancy, the New Zealand dollar may find it tough going this week."
