Australian share market plunges with $54billion wiped out in just half an hour as investors react to the unpopularity of Apple and Facebook

Australia's share market has lost $54billion in the opening half hour of trade.

The Australian Security Exchange's benchmark S&P/ASX200 dived by 2.48 per cent, or 151.3 points, to 5,961.3 points by 10.24am AEST.

This was the worst fall since mid-June, with Australian investors reacting to the American sell-off in Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Tesla stocks.

CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian said virtually all sectors were in the red after the local market reacted to Wall Street's biggest one day decline in three months - sparked by a sell-off in big tech stocks.

'It's pretty much the worst day we've had since the middle of June and it's really because the US market had its worst day in three months,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 

'It comes down to partly questions being asked about the extent of the rally in those tech stocks in particular recently.'

Australian investors reacted by selling technology stocks, with Afterpay falling by 4.24 per cent within the first half-hour of trade.

Australia's share market has lost $54billion in the opening half an hour of trade. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on the Australian Securities Exchange dived by 2.48 per cent, or 151.3 points, to 5,961.3 points

American investors dumped their shares in tech giants including Apple and Facebook as data suggested a long and difficult economic recovery in the world's biggest economy.

Microsoft and Tesla were also punished.

The three main indexes all slumped, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping 567.14 points or 4.7 percent to 11,489.30 by mid-afternoon trade.