Stock market investors around the world are suffering more heavy losses today following the unleashing of Russia's military operation in Ukraine.
The equities rout in Asia looks set to continue in Europe and the US.
The UK's leading index, the FTSE 100, finished almost level yesterday, but plunged by 204 points to 7,294.15 soon after opening this morning.
Top share indices in the US finished heavily in the red yesterday and more of the same is expected when trading starts later today.
Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone, said about latest developments in Ukraine: "There has to be a fresh round of sanctions now against Putin and the Russian Government.
"That's where the worst case, or the bear-case scenario is for markets, and that's what we're seeing.
"There are no buyers here for risk, and there are a lot of sellers out there, so this market is getting hit very hard."
Reuters says the deepening sell-off in equities comes after US stocks took a beating on Wednesday - with the Dow Jones down 1.38%, the Nasdaq falling 2.57% and the S&P 500 dropping 1.84%.
Futures markets for all three indices are forecasting more big declines today.
Results
Meanwhile, the owner of British Gas said this morning that "significant change" is needed to prevent any future crisis among energy suppliers.
In its annual results, Centrica said the second half of 2021 saw an "unprecedented" increase in global natural gas prices, resulting in a material increase in UK wholesale gas and power prices.
It added: "Twenty-nine suppliers with over 4million customers have ceased trading since August 2021, which is when commodity prices started to increase materially.
"The collapse of these suppliers has resulted in millions of customers being moved to new suppliers through Ofgem's supplier of last resort (SOLR) process.
"We have played our part to support customers and ensure they receive an uninterrupted supply of gas and electricity - taking on around 500,000 customers in the second half of 2021 and a further 176,000 in January 2022.
"We believe we need to see significant change to address the underlying issues in the UK's complex energy regulations, by simplifying and strengthening regulations to protect customers and to ensure a crisis of this sort never happens again.
"Consumers ultimately pay for supplier failures through future energy tariffs or taxation, so we believe the energy retail market requires stronger prudential regulation to ensure those involved in the industry are fit and proper, companies have adequate capital and monitored risk management procedures, and customer deposits are protected."
Companies reporting today
- Finals: BAE Systems, Centrica, Howden Joinery, Inchcape, Lloyds Banking Group, Morgan Sindall, Rolls-Royce, Serco Group, St James's Place, WPP
- Interims: Hays