The NZX 50 index closed down 29 points to 3347 on Wednesday on turnover of $118 million.
Telecom finished down 4 cents to $3.03, while Contact Energy was down 18c to $8.82 after BG Group admitted defeat in its bid for Contact's majority owner, Australia's Origin Energy
Fletcher Building was down 25c to $7.50.
PGG Wrightson was unchanged at $2.50 after shareholders approved its plans to pay $220 million for a 50% financial stake in meat company Silver Fern Farms on Monday.
New Zealand Oil and Gas was down 2c to $1.53.
NZ Farming Systems Uruguay was down 6c to $1.52 after saying its milk production in July and August was more than 10% ahead of expectations because of ideal climatic conditions.
The dollar was trading at 66.89 US cents, 83.0 Australian cents, 37.94 pence, 71.67 yen and 0.4731 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was 63.91.
The Australian share market fell sharply after another volatile session, sparked by heavy falls on Wall Street over concerns about the health of the United States financial system.
The S&P/ASX200 was down 74.6 points, or 1.5%, to 4905.5, while the All Ordinaries dropped 80.5 points, or 1.6%, to 4961.4.
The September share price index futures contract was 98 points lower at 4912, on volume of 34,340 contracts.
