Stock markets worldwide drop at the opening of 2016

Pedestrians are reflected in a share prices board in Tokyo on Jan. 4, 2016. Tokyo stocks tumbled more than three percent on January 4, hit by weak China data and a pick-up in the yen as investors seek out the safe-haven unit fearing growing tensions in the Middle East.

A pedestrian with an umbrella walks past a display showing the latest Shanghai stock index figures in green to symbolize a fall along a footbridge in the Lujiazui Financial Zone in Shanghai, China, Jan. 4, 2016. China's Shanghai stock index plunged nearly 7 percent on Monday and trading in Chinese shares was halted for the remainder of the day after weak manufacturing data and Middle East tensions weighed on Asian markets.

A pedestrian looks at a stock market indicator board displaying the closing information of Tokyo's Nikkei Stock Average (top C) in Tokyo on Jan. 4, 2016. Japanese shares fell sharply Monday, the first trading day of the year, as sentiment was hurt by disappointing results from the Chinese economy. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock AverageÊlost 582.73 points, or 3.06 per cent, to end at 18,450.98 while the broader Topix index was down 37.63 points, or 2.43 per cent, at 1,509.67.

A currency trader walks by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea on Jan. 4, 2016.

Two investors chat in a stock firm in Fuyang in east China's Anhui province on Jan. 4, 2016. Trading on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges was ended early on Jan. 4 after shares fell seven percent, the first time China's new "circuit breaker" intervened to curb market volatility.

Chinese investors look at a screen showing stock movements at a stock brokerage house in Beijing, China, on Jan. 4, 2016.

Traders at the Philippine Stock Exchange start the first day of trading for 2016 in Manila on Jan. 4, 2016

A trader looks at his screens on the floor of the German stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany on Jan. 4, 2016. European markets fell sharply as they followed a plunge across Asia, where China suspended trading after weak manufacturing data prompted a miserable start to 2016 for investors. Germany's DAX plunged nearly 3.7 per cent.

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during the morning of Jan. 4, the first day of trading in 2016 for the New York Stock Exchange. The market dove over 400 points upon opening.