Yahoo Finance $46 billion wiped off Australian share markets
The Australian share market opened Thursday morning with $46 billion of value wiped off.
All Ordinaries was down 2.07 per cent, with energy (3.09 per cent fall) and technology (2.84 per cent) companies the hardest hit.
The ASX was following the lead of US markets, which tanked overnight for the second consecutive day amid fears about how much damage the American economy was suffering from Donald Trump's trade war with China.
The three major US stock indexes all fell at least 1.5 per cent, while the European STOXX600 declined 2.50 per cent, and London's FTSE100 sunk 3.23 per cent.
The decline in shares comes even after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut the cash rate to a historic-low of 0.75 per cent only on Tuesday, which should have boosted business financing power.
The Australian market crash is a reminder of how economic fortunes in the US and internationally have an impact on the wealth of most Australians.
While very few Australians directly own shares, the life savings of many go up and down according to the market because of exposure through superannuation.
With the average Australian holding $100,000 in super, a two per cent decline such as Thursday sees the ordinary Joe on the street lose $2,000 without even realising.
However, experts have pointed out that there is a minority of people who make money when markets plummet.
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