Aussie stocks going global banking sell

Aussie stocks have joined the global equity sell-off, taking a sharp turn lower at the open, with Australia's banks taking the brunt of the early selling as investors flee to safe havens.

Early trade has seen a heavier sell-off than the futures index had been predicting with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 down 73.3 points, or 1.47 percent, at 4,902.1 points, and the broader All Ordinaries index had fallen 70.5 points, or 1.40 percent at 4951.6 points.

Concerns are mounting however that the market volatility will feed through into real economies and central banks "will be pretty much powerless to stop it," Weston said, adding that it seems markets are pushing central banks into some kind of action, "but they don't exactly know what it is they want".

"Deeper negative rates could have untold, dire consequences. Further balance sheet expansion through (Quantitative Easing) could only lead to more disappointment and an even deeper credibility issue, not to mention dislocations in markets," Weston said.

"What we are seeing is a ferocious destruction of wealth and confidence, with some rather powerful bearish trends developing."

Australia's banks have been driving the losses in the morning session with ANZ down 2.74 percent, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia losing 1.98 percent, the National Australia Bank 2.98 percent lower and Westpac 2.28 percent weaker by 1022 local time.

BHP Billiton had fallen 2.5 percent while rival Rio Tinto slipped 0.14 percent, however gold miner Newcrest surged 4.25 percent as investors flock to safe havens.

Oil Search is down 1.59 percent, Santos dropped 2.95 percent, and Woodside Petroleum has shed 1.15 percent.

Wesfarmers and Woolworths slid 0.09 and 0.46 percent respectively.

Qantas is 1.98 percent weaker while Telstra lost 0.44 percent. Endit