The S&P/ASX 200 index (XJO) plummetted 3.2% on Tuesday, but outperformed other major Asia Pacific bourses as a day of massive losses unfolded.
More than $50 billion was wiped off Australian stocks, but the action was much worse overseas.
The S&P/ASX 200 (XJO) which had fallen from 6026 points to circa 5850 points by midday rallied slightly before sliding again to finish the day in the vicinity of 5800 points.
The overall fall of 3.7% was far better than the extent of the decline in the Dow.
Also, the afternoon session was comparatively stable with a decline of 0.8%.
Asian indices fail to pull out of the dive in afternoon trading
Casting an eye across other major Asian indices, the Nikkei was the worst performer, plunging 6.5% or more than 1400 points.
It didn’t show the same stability that was evident with the ASX in afternoon trading as it fell from 21,500 points to as low as 21,175 points.
The Hang Seng trended in a similar fashion as the losses accelerated throughout the day with an uninterrupted fall of circa 1600 points or 5%.
Commodities impact will be more evident when Europe opens
On the commodities front, there was some support for gold as a safe haven as it rallied 0.8% to US$1346 per ounce.
The oil price weakened, but the circa 1.2% fall still left it in the vicinity of US$63.40 per barrel.
This isn’t far shy of its recent 30 month high of circa US$66 per barrel that it peaked at in late January.
It was a similar story with copper with a fall of less than 2% seeing it trading in the vicinity of US$3.18 per pound, not far off the US$3.28 per pound mark that it peaked at in December.
Given it hadn’t traded at these levels since mid-2014, the red metal still appears to be in good shape.
Gold the best performing sector
The S&P/ASX 200 Gold Index (XGD) was the best performing index, coming off only 0.8%.
Notable gainers were Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) and Rand Mining (ASX:RND), both up circa 3.5%.
Energy was the worst performing sector, plummeting 5%, led lower by Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) and Origin Energy (ASX:ORG), which fell by 9% and 7% respectively.
Gold miners, Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) and Resolute Mining (ASX:RGS) were the only ASX 200 stocks to finish the day in positive territory.
The worst performing ASX 200 stocks were WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC) and Lynas Corporation (ASX: LYC) which finished the day down 12.2% and 8.5% respectively.