Australian share market dives at open as all sectors flash red

The Australian share market has opened sharply lower, with every sector losing at least 1.0 per cent, after a second day of significant falls on Wall Street.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 136.9 points, or 2.06 per cent, to 6,503.0 points at 1015 AEST on Thursday, while the broader All Ordinaries was down 134.4 points, or 1.99 per cent, to 6,618.9 points.

Tech shares collectively fell 2.85 per cent, leading losses, and the energy sector shed 2.76 per cent in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The financial, consumer discretionary, consumer staple, healthcare and telecommunications sectors each fell more than 2.0 per cent.

The big four banks - ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB and Westpac - were down between 2.33 per cent and 3.0 per cent.

Mining giant BHP was down 2.11 per cent to $35.535, Rio Tinto was down 3.12 per cent to $88.25 and Fortescue Metals was down 2.52 per cent to $8.50.

On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 1.86 per cent, the S&P 500 was down 1.79 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 1.56 per cent.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 2.50 per cent, recording its steepest slide since December, and the FTSE 100 in London plummeted 3.23 per cent amid investor concerns about weakening global growth.

The Aussie dollar is buying 67.13 US cents from 67.02 US cents on Wednesday.