Share prices fall worldwide

Stocks took a sharp tumble around the world yesterday, with the US Dow Jones and UK FTSE 100 both dropping 2 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei index suffering its worst day in 37 years, amid worries over the possibility of a global recession.

- ALEX DANIEL GUSTAF KILANDER

London’s bluechip index closed 2.1 per cent down, falling 173 points to 8,000.

Meanwhile, the US Dow Jones was down 2 per cent, with an 842-point drop in trading to start yesterday. The Nasdaq was down nearly 3 per cent, losing 476 points to start the day. This comes after US jobs data sparked a global stock market sell-off at the end of last week. Investors were spooked at the prospect of a potential American recession fuelled by poor earnings reports from major companies and concerns about the tech sector.

Analysts said they feared the US Federal Reserve may have made a mistake by not cutting interest rates, and it might now be too late to hold off a recession. A number of the top tech companies, such as Nvidia, Meta, and Apple, lost 6 per cent of their market capitalisation. Apple was still affected by billionaire Warren Buffett selling half his stake in the company on Saturday even as he remains its largest shareholder. Buffett also got rid of $3bn of Bank of America stock last week.