A gloomy cocktail of nervousness about the forthcoming US earnings season, renewed worries about the global banking sector and grim eurozone economic data triggered a rise in investor risk-aversion on Tuesday.
Furthermore, central bank actions in the Asia-Pacific region did little to bolster confidence in the global economic outlook. The Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged and widened the range of collateral it would accept against loans in a bid to help regional banks, while the Reserve Bank of Australia cut rates by 25 basis points to a record low of 3 per cent.
