The numerous assurances that Australia is well-placed to ride out the financial storm have not stopped panicky investors from fleeing the market, with the benchmark indices hemorrhaging over 15 per cent in the past week alone.
Today's market freefall, the worst in 21 years, capped off a tumultuous time on the bourse with the only words of comfort coming from politicians off to an international financial crisis meeting in Washington tonight.
Over the past five trading days, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 15.6 per cent from 4694.5 points to 3960.7, while the broader All Ordinaries index dropped 16.2 per cent from 4702.8 points to 3939.5.
The major indices falls to below the 4000 points mark is the first time since 2005.
Energy stocks were hardest hit over the past week, with the index falling 27.3 per cent from 15,794 points to 11,477.9 as oil prices also tumbled from around $US94 per barrel to below $US80/bbl today.
Falling base metal prices and fresh concerns about a weakening iron ore market saw the metals and mining index fall 14.5 per cent to 3130.8 points while materials dropped 13.7 per cent to 9148.5 points.
The traditionally safe gold commodity was not immune from the market's dramatic falls over the week, with the index dipping 9.1 per cent to 3957.6 points despite a creeping gold price.
