Sydney-Tokyo| Global growth forecasts have been shredded by fears of a recession in the world’s largest economy, unleashing panic in equity markets that escalated on Monday into the worst sell-off in four years, heaping pressure on central banks to arrest the carnage.

Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index dived 293.6 points, or 3.7 per cent, to 7649.6 on Monday with no sector spared, extending a global equities rout that swept through Asia, sending Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbling 12.4 per cent. S&P 500 futures were down more 2.7 per cent suggesting the selling is set to continue on Wall Street.