The NZX 50 dropped 50 points, or 0.4%, to 13,445 in Monday morning trade, after being muted in the previous session, tracking a decline on Wall Street on Friday, with chipmakers leading the sell-off.
Traders remained cautious ahead of the release of New Zealand's consumer and business confidence data for June, as both indicators remained subdued in May despite improving.
Investors also anticipated the release of China's PMI data and US jobs data for June to help gauge the economic outlook in the world's largest and second-largest economies.
However, easing oil prices capped the decline as inflation concerns moderated, reducing expectations of an interest rate hike.
Distribution services, electronic tecnology, energy minerals, and utilities, mainly weighed on the index, with notable losses from Delegat Group (-2.8%), Turners Automotive (-2.3%), Westpac Banking Corp. (-1.9%), Contact Energy (-1.6%), Hallenstein Glasson (-1.2%), Meridian Energy (-1.2%), and Fisher & Paykel (-0.6%).