WANG ZHAO / AFP / Getty Images

The Australian stock exchange (ASX) spent much of Tuesday morning getting smashed, as the ASX200 — the index comprised of Australia’s largest 200 companies — plummeted 2.72% in just the first half-hour of trade.

Opening at 6,640.3 points, the ASX 200 immediately found itself in freefall. Within 15 minutes, it had sunk 2.82% or 187.2 points before easing slightly. By 10:30 am, it was down around 180 points.

A couple of hours later, it had stabilised somewhat. At 12:40 pm, the ASX 200 was sitting down 2.6%.

However, as the afternoon drew on, the market began to bounce. Between 1 pm and 2:15, the ASX moved almost 50 points higher to 6,512, or 1.95% below where it opened.

That was likely helped by new data out showing that Australia has amassed an $8 billion trade surplus, and the country’s 18th consecutive one, allaying short-term economic fear.

But it was shortlived as the market moved lower late in the session. At 3:30 pm, with half an hour left of trading, the day’s losses were sitting at 2.3%.

It eventually closed the day’s trade at 6478.1 points or 2.44% down.

Market analyst Evan Lucas of InvestSmart tweeted that today’s opening marked the worst fall in three years.

Haven't seen a fall like this is over 3 yrs on #ASX #ausbiz pic.twitter.com/hXGxHlaA9I — Evan Lucas (@EvanLucas_INV) August 6, 2019

It comes after the US Treasury Department labelled China a currency manipulator overnight — a significant escalation in the US-China trade war.

That saw investors sell-out of the US sharemarkets, seeing the tech-heavy Nasdaq — home to the likes of Apple and Amazon — fall by 3.5%. European markets followed suit with the FTSE closing down 2.5%.

Now markets across Asia are all set to open and respond to the news. If Australia’s early performance on Tuesday is anything to go by, it won’t be pretty.

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