Stocks in the United States ended lower on Thursday after a Federal Reserve official said the bank could begin easing its monetary stimulus this summer.
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco president John Williams also said the Fed could end its bond-buying programme late this year
The Dow Jones Index closed down 42 points, or 0.3%, to 15,233. The Nasdaq Composite fell 6 points, or 0.2%, at 3,465.
Earlier, the FTSE in London closed down 0.09%, the DAX in Frankfurt closed up 0.09% and the CAC-40 in Paris was down 0.08%.
The Australian 200 Index closed down 26 points, or 0.5%, at 5,166 and the NZX 50 closed down 10 points, or 0.2%, at 4,636.
At 8.30am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 81.55 US cents, 83.12 Australian cents, 53.37 pence, 83.33 yen and 0.6324 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 76.77.
Brent crude oil was trading at $US104.26 per barrel and gold was trading at $US1388.45 per ounce.