Shares in Anglo American, Glencore, BHP Billiton, BG Group and Royal Dutch Shell fell 5.6 to 9.7 percent.
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Chinese stock trading was also suspended on Monday after a plunge that roiled Wall Street and other global markets. Those halts, which were triggered twice this week, are increasingly seen as inadequate for preventing volatility.
“Concerns have mounted that the Chinese authorities are losing their grip on markets and on confidence at large”, said analysts at Rabobank in a note.
At 3:14 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was down 302.93 points, or 1.77 percent, to 16,855.73, the S&P 500 .SPX had lost 33.09 points, or 1.64 percent, to 1,983.62 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC had dropped 75.76 points, or 1.55 percent, to 4,815.67. Marathon Oil declined $1.48, or 11.6 percent, to $11.28. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index slumped 8.3 percent to 1,955.88.
In other Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.6 percent to 20,453.71 and South Korea’s Kospi added 0.7 percent to 1,917.62.
Meanwhile officials and leading financiers warned of the dangers to the global economy and the threat of another risky market crash, with the World Bank cutting its global growth forecasts again. Germany’s DAX slid 2.3 percent, the France CAC 40 gave up 1.7 percent, and Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 2 percent.
Traders and economists feared the move from China to further depreciate the yuan may mean the world’s second-biggest economy is even weaker than had been expected and could trigger another wave of competitive devaluations in the region. On Thursday, the contract lost 70 cents to $33.27.
Chinese government measures introduced previous year to prop up share prices after a meltdown in June are being gradually withdrawn, leading to volatile trading.
Among Northwest companies, Boeing stock fell 4.2 percent Thursday, Microsoft was down 3.5 percent, Amazon was off 3.9 percent, Starbucks fell 2.5 percent and Costco was down 2.3 percent.
The markets have endured a rough few days to start 2016.
Still, the US economy remains on track, and shouldn’t be affected too much by China’s struggles, he said.
Ongoing concerns over China’s slowing economy and falling currency are behind the wild market gyrations. A monthly survey of China’s service industries slipped to a 17-month low.
“China’s been such a big driver of global growth for 15 years and now they’re not, and they don’t seem to have a plan for the next 15 years”, Canally said. The S&P 500 fell 1.7% and the Nasdaq lost 1.6%.
China’s stock market is in complete disarray.
METALS: The price of gold rose $13.50, or 1.3 per cent, to $1,091.90 an ounce.
The price of copper fell 2.6 percent, however. Its stock has plunged 84 percent over the last two years. Heating oil sank 4.5 cents, or 4 per cent, to US$1.081 a gallon.
Marathon Oil declined $1.41, or 11.1 per cent, to $11.35 and Murphy Oil shed $2.66, or 11.8 per cent, to $19.93.
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The euro edged up to $1.0788 from $1.0744. The dollar fell to 118.62 yen from 118.97 yen late Tuesday.
