Australian shares are down at the open with banks and energy stocks weighing for a second day.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index is down 34.8 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 6457.

Woodside Petroleum is down 3.1 per cent, Commonwealth Bank has fallen 0.7 per cent and ANZ has slid 0.9 per cent.

Estia Health is down 4.7 per cent, Technology One has slid 4.1 per cent and Beach Energy is down 4 per cent.

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Investor jitters are back in full swing as the trade war continues to develop. Wall Street slumped overnight, setting up the ASX for a fall at the open, writes Kyle Rodda.

It was not a good night for risks assets, last night. Financial markets have behaved like a wound-up coil the last few weeks, since the re-escalation of the US-China trade-war. There's been a sense that their needs to be a snap-move, one way or another. And in the last 24-hours, it's apparently arrived. The price action speaks of a market fearful the trade-war, and how it may enervate global economic growth.

Volumes are elevated, volatility is up, stocks have sold off, commodities are down, safe haven assets have been sharply bid higher, and SPI futures are pointing to 29-point drop for the ASX200 this morning.

Read the full 8@eight here.

Here are the overnight market highlights:

ASX futures down 29 points or 0.5% to 6464
AUD +0.2% to 68.96 US cents
On Wall St at 4pm: Dow -1.1% S&P 500 -1.2% Nasdaq -1.6%
In New York, BHP -0.9% Rio -1.1% Atlassian +0.8% Apple -1.7%
In Europe: Stoxx 50 -1.8% FTSE -1.4% CAC -1.8% DAX -1.8%
Spot gold +0.8% to $US1284.90 an ounce at 2.42pm New York time
Brent crude -4.8% to $US67.59 a barrel
US oil -5.9% to $US57.77 a barrel
Iron ore -1.9% to $US103.79 a tonne
Dalian iron ore -0.3% to 727.50 yuan
LME aluminium +1% to $US1797.50 a tonne
LME copper flat at $US5926 a tonne
2-year yield: US 2.14% Australia 1.15%
5-year yield: US 2.10% Australia 1.22%
10-year yield: US 2.31% Australia 1.58% Germany -0.12%
10-year US/Australia yield gap near 5.55am AEST: 73 basis points

Oil spiralled to its worst daily performance of the year as mounting trade tensions between the world's biggest economies sent investors fleeing from risky assets.

Futures in New York and London fell more than 5 per cent for the steepest intraday declines since December 24.

Equity markets also slumped: the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 400 points after the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper published commentaries warning of a "technology cold war" with the US.

West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery fell 5.3 per cent to $US58.16 a barrel at 12.10pm on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent, the international crude benchmark, dipped below $US70 on London's ICE Europe Futures exchange for the first time in more than a week.

Good morning and welcome to Markets Live for Friday.

Your editor today is William McInnes.

Trade war jitters have once again returned to focus for local investors with Wall Street selling off overnight.

This blog is not intended as investment advice.