Global markets crashed and oil prices jumped US$8 on Thursday after Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine.
The United States and the European Union have promised to impose severe economic sanctions on Moscow that could bludgeon the global economy.
At the start of the session in Europe, London tumbled by 3.1%, Paris by 4.5% and Frankfurt by 4.8%.
In New York, before the markets opened, the Dow Jones industrial average and the broad S&P 500 index lost more than 2%.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 collapsed by 1.8% in Tokyo, the Shanghai Stock Exchange by 1.7%, the Australian Stock Exchange by 3%, the Hang Seng by 3.2% in Hong Kong and the Kospi in 2.6% in Seoul.
On the New York Commodities Exchange, the price of oil jumped to flirt with the bar of US$100 a barrel.
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