The Australian share market is falling sharply as global growth worries send investors running for the exit.

After a stellar day on global markets yesterday, jitters have returned, sparked by worries about eurozone growth.

Germany recorded its biggest monthly drop in exports for five years, and this news was compounded by a warning from the European Central Bank president of weaker times ahead.

Wall Street was sold off heavily and the volatility index, which measures fear, spiked 23 per cent to its highest level since February.

In Australia, the All Ordinaries index was down 1.7 per cent around midday (AEDT), as was the ASX 200 which was off 92 points to 5,205.

CommSec's Tom Piotrowski says no sector has been spared.

"Sellers aren't being particularly choosy today," he told ABC radio's The World Today program.

"When you have an economy like Germany's that is driven by exports and that measure is moving backwards at a rapid clip, the talk's about waning demand from its customers."

Miners have been hit hardest, with Fortescue down 3.3 per cent to $3.24, Rio Tinto down almost 3 per cent and BHP Billiton off 2.2 per cent.

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Whitehaven Coal was particularly hard hit, as news of extra Chinese coal tariffs combined with the weak economic and market sentiment to trigger an 8.8 per cent slump to $1.50.

Energy stocks were also pulled down by steep falls in oil prices overnight: Woodside and Santos were off 2.8 per cent.

Falls were still fairly steep beyond resources, though, with the major banks down between 1.2 and 1.8 per cent.

Qantas was down almost 4 per cent to $1.34, and market heavyweight Telstra was 1.2 per cent lower.

Retailers also suffered: JB Hi-Fi dropped 1.8 per cent, Myer 1.3 per cent to $1.85 and Harvey Norman 1.6 per cent.

Even more defensive supermarket giants Woolworths and Wesfarmers were down 0.8 and 1.8 per cent respectively.

The Australian share market is at its lowest level since February and has erased all of the gains made this year.

The Australian dollar had also fallen to 87.6 US cents.