Stocks on Wall Street have fallen, as fears grow about the eurozone debt crisis.
Yields on 10-year Spanish bonds moved closer to 7%, a level at which other eurozone members were forced to seek a bailout.
Adding to the concern, Italian 10-year yields topped 6% for the first time since January.
The Dow Jones Index on Wednesday fell 161 points, or 1.3%, to close at 12,420. The Nasdaq Composite was down 34 points, or 1.2%, to finish at 2837.
The FTSE 100 index in London fell 1.7% to 5297 reversing much of the rally seen since last Thursday.
The index is on course for a monthly drop of more than 7.5% in May, its worst performance since August 2012.
The DAX in Frankfurt fell 1.8% and the CAC-40 in Paris shed 2.2%.
The Australian 200 Index fell 20 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 4094 on Wednesday. The NZX 50 rose 3 points, or 0.1%, to close at 3491.
At 8.24am on Thursday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 75.33 US cents, 77.58 Australian cents, 48.65 pence, 59.59 yen and 0.6092 euro.The Trade Weighted Index was at 69.11.
Brent crude oil was trading at $104.50 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1565.76 per ounce.
