The New Zealand sharemarket fell in early trading on Thursday after heavy losses on overseas markets as investors worry about the risk of recession.
The NZX50 index fell nearly 3% when it opened and has extended losses since then.
At 10.48am on Thursday, it was down 103 points, or more than 3.5%, at 2802.
The index hit a four year low on Monday and closed down 44 points, or 1.5%, at 2904 on turnover of $80 million on Wednesday.
In the currency markets: at 8.17am on Thursday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at US60.60 cents, 89.96 Australian cents, 34.99 pence, 60.99 yen and 0.4481 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 60.16.
The Australian share market was also in the red on Wednesday but contained its losses to less than 1%.
The S&P/ASX200 index closed down 35.2 points, or 0.81% at 4,300, while the All Ordinaries index fell 39 points, or 0.9%, to 4,272.5.
Other markets
On Wall Street on Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 733.08 points, or 7.87%, to 8,577.91.
Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 90.17 points, or 9.03%, to 907.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 150.68 points, or 8.47%, to 1,628.33.
The session was the worst since the 1987 stock market crash.
Stocks across Latin America also fell, giving up most of the gains recorded earlier in the week.
Brazil's share market finished down 11.39%, Argentine equities were down 12.14% and Mexico's BMV index lost 4.99%.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 6.46% lower at 903.67 points. The index previously gained 10% on Monday and 3.1% on Tuesday. It is down 40% for the year to date.
In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 6.82% to 3,381.07 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX fell 6.49% to 4,861.63 points.
The Swiss Market was down 5.58%, Milan by 5.33%, Amsterdam by 7.56%, Brussels by 5.93% and Madrid by 5.06%.
In London, the FTSE 100 index fell 7.16% to close at 4,079.59 points.
