World markets tumbled on Tuesday after US lawmakers rejected a $US700 bailout of America's troubled financial sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 777.68 points (6.98%) to close on Monday at 10,365.45 in its biggest single-day point decline ever.
The market bloodbath sent the Nasdaq down 199.61 points (9.14%) to 1,983.73, its lowest since 2005. The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 106.59 points (8.79%) to 1,106.42, hitting its lowest level since 2004.
Stocks in Asia and the Pacific followed suit on Tuesday.
New Zeland's benchmark index fell as much as 4.6% before losing 98 points, or 3.1% percent, to close at 3090.
At 5.20pm Telecom was down 5 cents to $2.73, while Contact Energy fell 47c to $7.82.
Fletcher Building slipped 26c to $6.65 after building consents figures continued to fall.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances was down 11c to $1.60, while sister company Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 5c to $2.93.
The Warehouse was down 15c to $3.02 and Hallenstein Glasson fell 37c to $2.50.
Pyne Gould Corporation was down 15c to $3.15 after announcing it wants to become a registered bank.
At 5.20pm on Tuesday the New Zealand dollar was trading at US66.78 cents, 83.87 Australian, 37.04 pence, 69.31 yen and 0.4644 euro. The Trade Weighted Index stands at 63.29.
Australia and Japan
The Australian sharemarket was pounded on Tuesday in the wake of a horror session on US markets.
The local bourse fell to its lowest level in almost three years as investors fled the market. It nosedived by about 5.5% at one stage, but recovered a little to finish 4.3% lower - about $A55 billion lighter in value.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed 206.9 points at 4,600.5 while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 207.9 points to 4,631.3.
The Nikkei average hit a three-year closing low, shedding 483.75 points to 11,259.86, the lowest finish since June 2005. It earlier lost nearly 5%.
The broader Topix was down 3.6% to 1,087.41, after tumbling more than 5% at one stage.