Australian shares are set to tumble on renewed concerns about the economic havoc wreaked by the rapidly spreading coronavirus.
By 7:10am AEDT, ASX futures were indicating the local market could drop by around 2.3 per cent (or 144 points) at the open.
Investor sentiment soured on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones index plunging 1,103 points (4.1 per cent), wiping out all of yesterday's gains.
The benchmark S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq indices plunged by 3.9 and 3.4 per cent in late-afternoon trade.
As the share market sell-off intensified, investors rushed to safe haven assets like gold, which jumped 2.3 per cent to $US1,673.82 an ounce.
Oil markets were also punished with Brent crude sinking by 2.4 per cent, just below $US50 per barrel.
This was despite the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) — which includes oil-rich nations Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Libya — agreeing to cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day.
More to come.
