In New Zealand, the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index dipped slightly in May, falling 2 points to 82.3 but above its record low of 77.9 in March.
Matt Goodson, managing director of Salt Funds Management, said "we had a very weak lead out of the US and this affected markets across Asia Pacific.
"In Australia the technology stocks were hit, as were property shares that were ex-dividend, but this didn't carry over to the local market," he said.
"Presently, we are at the whims of overseas markets and turnover is very patchy. This can lead to exaggerated price movements when someone has to buy or sell.
"Higher bond yields and bank term deposits may also be taking the attention away from shares. We have the June quarter rebalancing coming up and this will likely sharpen trading," Goodson said.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 500 points or 1.56 per cent to 30,946.99 points after making early gains; S&P 500 declined 2.01 per cent to 38921.55; and Nasdaq Composite fell 2.98 per cent to 11,181.54.
The Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index was down 0.64 per cent to 6720.1 points at 6pm NZ time.
Ebos Group, down 91c or 2.26 per cent to $39.40, headed the individual list with $14.48m worth of its shares being traded. There was early conjecture across the Tasman that Ebos' Chemist Warehouse contract may come under pressure since key Warehouse investors have bought an 11 per cent shareholding in Ebos rival Sigma Healthcare.
Fisher and Paykel Healthcare declined 22c to $19.88; Fletcher Building was down 11c or 2.13 per cent to $5.06; a2 Milk retreated 7c to $4.94; Infratil decreased 19c or 2.39 per cent to $7.76; and Vital Healthcare Property Trust was down 5c or 1.8 per cent to $2.73.
Among the energy stocks, Meridian was up 9c or 1.96 per cent to $4.69; Vector increased 9c or 2.18 per cent to $4.22; Mercury was down 8.5c to $5.715; and Genesis declined 8c or 2.91 per cent to $2.665.
Retailers Briscoe Group increased 9c to $5.39, and Michael Hill International was up 4c or 3.7 per cent to $1.12; while Hallenstein Glasson was down 11c or 1.96 per cent to $5.49 KMD Brands (formerly Kathmandu) declined 4c or 3.48 per cent to $1.11,l and The Warehouse Group decreased 6c to $3.32.
Heartland Group Holdings was down 6c or 3.03 per cent to $1.92; Tourism Holdings fell 9c or 3.85 per cent to $2.25; Gentrack declined 4c or 2.74 per cent to $1.42; and Smartpay Holdings fell 4c or 5.97 per cent to 63c.
Seeka decreased 10c or 2.14 per cent to $4.58; Eroad was down a further 4c or 2.65 per cent to $1.47; Carbon Fund declined 7c or 3.29 per cent to $2.06; and Chatham Rock Phosphate shed 5c or 13.51 per cent to 32c.
Synlait Milk increased 7c or 2.22 per cent to $3.22, and South Port New Zealand gained 15c or 1.8 per cent to $8.50.
Small caps Accordant Group was up 5c or 2.86 per cent to $1.80; Radius Residential Care gained 2c or 5.13 per cent to 41c; ArborGen Holdings increased 1.5c or 7.14 per cent to 22.5; and Allied Farmers collected 3c or 4.17 per cent to 75c.
NZME, unchanged at $1.26, told the market it had reached 100,000 paid digital subscriptions three years after launching NZ Herald Premium.
Oceania Healthcare and T&G Global have both arranged sustainability-linked loans – for Oceania $500m over five years and T&G $180m over three years. The loans come at a lower interest rate as long as the companies meet their sustainability targets, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions; if they don't meet targets, then the interest rate will be higher.
Retirement village operator Oceania was unchanged at 95c, and fresh produce exporter T&G Global was unchanged at $2.77.
New Zealand Rural Land Company was up 2c or 1.87 per cent to $1.09 after completing a capital raising that fetched $16.4m to buy two dairy farms.
