Markets in Europe and the United States were down again on Tuesday after Eurozone finance ministers delayed a decision on giving Greece the next instalment of bailout funds.
A meeting set for 13 October, when the ministers had been expected to confirm the transfer of the next tranche, has now been cancelled
The CAC-40 in Paris fell 2.6%, the DAX in Frankfurt was down by 3% and the FTSE 100 in London by 2.6%.
Banking stocks had the biggest falls, due to their exposure to Greek government bonds.
The Dow Jones Index was down 162 points, 1.5%, at 10,497 points. The Nasdaq Composite was down 17 points, 0.7%, at 2318.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US104.83 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1620.29 per ounce.
Earlier, the Australian 200 Index closed down 25 points, or 0.6%, at 3872.
The NZX 50 closed up 4 points, or 0.1%, at 3320.
At 8.30am on Wednesday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 74.98 US cents, 79.67 Australian cents, 48.7 pence, 57.64 yen and 0.5660 euro.The Trade Weighted Index was at 67.60.
