The New Zealand sharemarket is having its worst session in nearly a year.
NZX sign Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
In subdued trading, affected by the Wellington Anniversary holiday, the benchmark NZX-50 index is down more than 220 points, about 1.8 percent.
The drop is its biggest single session decline since late January last year, and takes the market to a 10-month low.
The fall followed Wall Street's large decline last week, which saw the three main indices post their biggest weekly percentage drops since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Stocks around the world have got off to a rough start this year in the face of strong inflation pressures, supply chain and pandemic related disruptions, and rising wholesale interest rates.
Central banks around the world, which had been fuelling stock markets through their cheap money policies over the past two years to counter the effects of Covid, are moving to cut the stimulus and tackle strong inflation pressures with higher interest rates.
In early New Zealand trading, only one stock in the top 50 listed companies has not fallen in price, with the heaviest declines for tourism, technology, retirement village operators, and some retail stocks.
The New Zealand market, which contracted about 3 percent last year, has fallen about 7 percent since the new year.