New Zealand shares fell 3 per cent yesterday as Asia-Pacific markets extended a global rout.
The NZX-50 index closed down 101.27 points at 3276.51. In Australia the ASX 200 fell 171.1 points, or 4 per cent, at 4105.4. The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index tumbled 3.8 per cent in Tokyo, set for
its largest weekly decline since October 2008.
More than $5 trillion has been wiped from equity market values worldwide amid a sell-off that drove the MSCI All-Country World Index down more than 10 per cent from this year's high into a so-called correction.
"Investors are coming to grips with how dramatically the global and US economies have slowed in recent months," said investment strategist Russ Koesterich of BlackRock.
His firm oversees $4.37 trillion as the world's largest asset manager. "What's really troubling investors is that given the fiscal austerity in Europe and the US and the fact that interest rates are already at zero, it's not clear what steps governments can do to get us out of this."
