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The British lobbying body is forecasting 2.6 percent growth for 2015 and 2.8 percent for 2016, up from its June’s projections of 2.4 percent and 2.5 percent respectively.

The STOXX 600 Basic Resources Index, whose constituents are mostly mining stocks, and the energy sector fell 10 % and 8.8 % respectively, as commodities slumped to multi-year lows, with China being one of the world’s biggest users of metals and oil.

Brent oil closed at a $4.45 premium to West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark.

Bahrain also declined, but it was the only market that lost below one per cent at 0.37 per cent.

“There is no end in sight to the nose-dive that oil prices have been experiencing”, Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in a report. A stronger greenback makes dollar-priced oil more expensive for buyers using weaker currencies, denting demand.

Shanghai: Shanghai stocks tumbled 6.41 per cent in early trading on Tuesday, extending the worst plunge for eight years after worries China’s faltering economy could hurt global growth sent world markets nosediving.

The Shanghai Composite Index was down 4.3 percent at 3,071.06 at midday Tuesday after falling 6.4 percent in the first minutes of trading.

The cause of the global market volatility centres on fears that the world’s second biggest economy is slowing. “And I don’t see any signs of meaningful government intervention”.

The local unit has shed almost 15 percent of its value against the dollar this year, pressured like other commodity currencies by slowing growth in the world’s second largest economy, as well as expectations that U.S. rates will soon rise.

Fears that Chinese growth is weakening dragging down the global economy with it are already hammering commodities and world stock markets. For years, investors have been fretting that the market could drop sharply when the central bank starts raising rates.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dropped by 4.61% to 18,540.68.

On Monday, Mr Hockey said the Government would unveil personal income tax cuts before the next election, in response to bracket creep, when inflation drives up wages, pushing a greater number of Australians into higher tax brackets.

(Close): Wall Street fell for a fifth consecutive trading session amid a dramatic global sell-off as fears over China’s slowing economy intensified.

Concerns about a China-led global economic slowdown and tumbling commodities prices had U.S. traders fearing the worst after a 5 percent decline in the both the S&P and Dow last Thursday and Friday.

The S&P 500 slid 77.68 points, or 3.9 percent, to 1,893.21. Investors access the group via the Powershares DWA Momentum Portfolio, an exchange-traded fund that saw assets balloon to more than US$2 billion in August.