World shares are down amid concerns that the world economy will enter a protracted downturn.
The Dow Jones index Industrial Average fell 2.3% in early trade in the United States while the S&P 500 Index shed 3%.
The BBC reports the FTSE 100 London, the CaC-40 in Paris and Dax in Frankfurt were all down more than 3% in afternoon trade. Earlier, Asian shares fell sharply.
Concerns over a sharp slowdown in US factory activity added to worries about the strength of the economy.
A business survey from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve slipped to minus 39.3 from minus 37.5 in October.
New claims for unemployment benefits leapt last week to their highest in 16 years.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones index fell 5% to below the 8,000 mark after the US Federal Reservecut its economic growth forecasts for 2009.
In Asia on Thursday, the Nikkei index in Japan ended 6.8% lower and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell more than 4%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 index was 4.19% lower.
The New Zealand market ended the day down 2.3% at 2644 on turnover of $84 million.
Telecom was down 4 cents to $2.31, Contact slid 35c to $6.80 and Fletcher Building fell 22c to $5.48. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare fell 4c to $3.08, despite posting a 51% increase in half-year profit.
In the currency markets: at 6.30am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at US53.50 cents, 85.47 Australian cents, 36 pence, 51.30 yen and 0.4259 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 55.16.
