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SYDNEY - The Australian stock market has extended its losses to more than four per cent, after opening lower as fears of a recession in the US took a toll.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell as low as 5353.4 points around 1045 AEDT, down 227 points or 4.07 per cent.
The broader all ordinaries index was down 237.8 points, or 4.22 per cent, to 5293.1.
The all ords index has now fallen by 20 per cent since its intraday peak on November 1 last year.
As a rule of thumb, that indicates the market has entered a bearish phase, after years of a bull run.
Austock Securities client adviser and strategist Michael Heffernan said there was "blood on the floor" after the market opened at 1000 AEDT.
"We are all feeling what it would be like to do 15 rounds with Mike Tyson, but in reality there are some great stocks at fantastic value."
Brokers have said today's fall would offer buying opportunities for investors.
Financial markets are under pressure amid fears that the US economy is entering a recession, and depressing global growth.
Overnight, US markets were closed due to a public holiday so investors took their cue from Europe where all the major bourses fell.
"There is a wave of panic emerging as the fear unfolds," Martin Slaney, head of derivatives trading at GFT Global Markets in London, said.
The Australian market is set to mark its 12th weak session in a row, the longest losing streak in the market since January 1982.
Austock Securities client adviser and strategist Michael Heffernan said there was "blood on the floor" with the market falling three per cent in the first few minutes of trade.
"I think the blood bank is trawling all broker's floors to recover the blood," he said.
"We are all feeling what it would be like to do fifteen rounds with Mike Tyson but in reality there are some great stocks at fantastic value."
Mr Heffernan said sooner or later the market would come back.
"While it will finish down today, sooner or later investors are going to see the value in good stocks and I say they are great value. So investors should never look back. "
The London Stock Exchange lost 5.48 per cent - its largest one-day loss since the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, on fears of a recession in the world's biggest economy.
The German exchange lost 7.16 per cent and while French stocks fell 6.83 per cent.
Yesterday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index fell 2.9 per cent and the broader All Ordinaries lost 2.91 per cent, wiping $40 billion of the market's value.
- AAP