The New Zealand share market closed down 25 points to 3348 on turnover of $122 million on Thursday.
Telecom was down 7 cents to $3.12 while fellow market heavyweight Fletcher Building rose 20c to $7.60.
Auckland Airport dropped 4c to $2.03, while Contact Energy was down 1c to $8.35.
Skellerup rose 6c to $1.01 after posting a 60% increase in full-year net profit.
In Australia, the share market closed weaker after a poor performance across the board, with the gold sector leading the way. All sectors were down, with major laggards including utilities, metals and mining, energy, materials, telecoms and IT.
At 1615 AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 had slid below the key 5,000 mark, losing 80.5 points, or 1.59%, to 4,979.5, while the broader All Ordinaries lost 79.6 points, or 1.55%, to 5,050.9.
The September share price index futures contract was off 92 points, to 4,990 on volume of 35,187 contracts.
At 1639 AEST, spot gold in Sydney was trading at $US805.30 an ounce, up $US6 on Wednesday's close of $US799.30. Gold major Newcrest lost $1.46, or 6.46%, to $21.14, Newmont was A5c off at $5.03 and Lihir Gold shed A6c to $2.
In Japan, share prices closed down 1.04% amid caution ahead of the release of US jobs data, dealers said.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 131.93 points to close at 12,557.66.
The broader Topix index of all first-section shares dropped 18.90 points or 1.55% to close at 1,201.65.
