Commodities prices fell across the board, with oil tumbling below $75 a barrel on Wednesday, amid mounting investor concern that recent government and central bank actions to unfreeze credit markets will fail to avert a global recession.

The Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, a global benchmark for commodity prices, fell to a fresh 22-month low of 288.70 points, down almost 40 per cent from July’s all-time high.