Major stock markets outside the United States ended on Wednesday.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares provisionally closed 0.65 percent lower at 1,167.92 points, after clocking up gains of 1.2 percent earlier in the session. The benchmark has now fallen on eight of the last 11 days.
The S&P/ASX 200 index lost 44.1 points to 5,094.8, just 8.7 points off its 2008 closing low of 5,086.1 set on March 18.
The All-share index closed at 29,303.69 points, down 700.07 or 2.33 percent. The All Gold index closed at 2,383.77 points, down 3.57 or 0.15 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 18,635.03 points, down 199.57 or 1.06 percent.