Mums and dads head a $104b panic

Retail investors rushed for the exits yesterday as the Australian sharemarket crashed to its biggest one-day fall since October 1989, wiping more than $104 billion from investors' accounts.
The bloodbath for investors was the culmination of 12 consecutive days of falls, the longest losing streak in 26 years, taking losses on their portfolios to more than $300 billion since the market peaked in November.
Nervous investors are contemplating further selling today after futures trading indicated a fall of more than 4 per cent on Wall Street overnight. London's FTSE 100 share index plunged by 2 per cent when trading opened last night.
After five years of double-digit gains, yesterday's plunge returned the Australian market to the levels of October 2006.
The ASX 200 index plunged more than 7 per cent, or 393.6 points, to 5186 and the broader All Ordinaries dropped 408.9 points, or 7.3 per cent, to 5222.
The latest plunge takes the market's losses since the record high on November 1 to 24 per cent, which is technically a bear market, defined as a fall of 20 per cent.
"I am looking for a circuit-breaker to stop the dog chasing its tail, and it's hard to find," said Colonial First State's head of investment markets research, Hans Kunnen. "My fear is that the US will drive it down even further."
The number of trades on the Australian Securities Exchange's stockmarket yesterday reached an all-time high of 666,700 - 18 per cent above the previous record set last August - as investors scrambled for the door.
In an indicator that a large base of retail investors had taken enough pain, online brokers CommSec and E*Trade both posted all-time trading records.
Commsec achieved a record despite a 25-minute crash between 10.10am and 10.35am because of unprecedented sales volumes.
Heavy falls throughout Asia yesterday followed losses of up to 7 per cent on European markets on Monday night without any lead from a US market that was shut for a public holiday.
Germany's stockmarket was hit hardest after falling more than 7 per cent and Britain's FTSE index plunged more than 5 per cent on Monday night.
Investors were unnerved by the high chance of the US economy entering a recession, despite the US President, George Bush, announcing a $US150 billion ($174 billion) stimulus plan.
Japan's Nikkei index closed down 6 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 8 per cent yesterday.
Financial institutions perceived as having a link to the global financial fallout were hardest hit, including Babcock & Brown falling a further 18 per cent, or $3.44, to $14.99 and Macquarie Group dropping 11 per cent, or $7.51, to $58.21.
But even blue-chip banks followed the market down, with ANZ falling by 7 per cent, followed by National Australia Bank (6.5 per cent), Westpac (4.9 per cent) and the Commonwealth (3.8 per cent).
Resource stocks were also among the poorest performers, including BHP Billiton which was down 7 per cent, Rio which dropped 12 per cent and Paladin Energy leading a host of uranium miners lower, down 21 per cent.
Wallace Fund Management's managing director, Richard Wallace, said portfolio managers were "selling everything". In particular, stocks with financial question marks hanging over them were "hit really hard".