THE share market has lost more than 100 points this morning, falling through the 3300 point mark after Wall St took a fresh hit overnight.
At 10.11am (AEDT), the ASX200 was down 110 points, or 3.3 per cent to 3242, and the All Ords had lost 105 points to 3227.
GFT head of derivatives Martin Slaney said global share markets were witnessing mass selling on every level.
"It is one car crash after another for the markets right now and the risk of global economic recession is deepening by the day," he said.
Mining rivals BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto had lost around 4 per cent each, while Fortescue bucked the trend to gain 14 per cent after its AGM yesterday.
ANZ had lost 4.6 per cent to $12.40, Commonwealth Bank lost around 4 per cent to $28.16 and Westpac lost 3.4 per cent to $15.07. NAB lost around 2.4 per cent to $18.36.
Macquarie gained slightly to be ahead 16 cents to $27.16.
"(It is) another bad day to finish off an awful week," ABN Amro Morgans Ipswich manager Tony Russell said.
Mr Russell said one or two gold stocks were in positive territory, but otherwise it was red across the board.
"The gold price was firmer last night so there might be a bit of optimism there, but in the wake of the general market it's not going to help very much, unfortunately."
At 10.36am (AEDT), spot gold in Sydney was trading at $US744.40 an ounce, up $US5.25 on yesterday's close of $US739.15.
Lihir Gold gained five cents to $1.675 and Newmont was up 24 cents at $3.71.
Newcrest fell 44 cents to $18.51.
Prior to the start of trade this morning, the futures market was pointing to a loss of 160 points, or almost 5 per cent.
The Dow Jones sank to a fresh five-and-a-half year low overnight, losing 5.46 per cent, the Nasdaq lost 5 per cent and the S&P500 plummeted 6.6 per cent to its lowest finish in a decade.
"Any remaining confidence in global markets has been well and truly trampled on today as investors throw in the towel," said David Evans, an analyst at BetOnMarkets.com.
"After months of bailouts, mini rallies, more bailouts and false dawns, investors have had enough."
European stocks also took a tumble overnight, with London's FTSE100, Frankfurt's DAX and the CAC 40 in Paris all losing more than 3 per cent each.
Back home, the ASX 200 fell to its lowest level since May 2004 yesterday.
Plunging share markets and weak US data sparked fresh fears a worldwide recession would ravage energy demand, sending oil prices crashing below $US50.
In New York, oil plunged $US4 dollars a barrel to close at $US49.62. The contract had not been below the $US50 level since January 18, 2007.
The Australian dollar also sank yesterday, plummeting to just above US63c.
It fell another 3.5 per cent overnight to start today's local session at US61.29c, before falling to a four-week low of US60.80c by 7.40am AEDT, prompting the Reserve Bank to intervene in the foreign exchange market.
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