World stocks retreat for second day on growth worries

World stocks fell for the second successive day on Wednesday and metals prices declined, pressured by signs of a renewed and prolonged downturn in global growth.

In a holiday-shortened week, share prices fell in Asia and Europe. The gloom looked set to carry over to Wall Street, according to index futures.

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Lacklustre manufacturing data from across the world set off this week's selling spree, notably Chinese factory activity shrinking for the 14th straight month and British output at three-month lows.

Tuesday's surprise interest rate cut in Australia and downgraded growth and inflation forecasts from the European Commission also weighed.

Data on Tuesday showed euro zone retail sales falling by a bigger-than-expected 0.5 per cent in March. Later this week, the focus will shift to US monthly jobs data, numbers seen key to the Federal Reserve's interest rate outlook.

In addition, corporate earnings have consistently undershot expectations - US S&P 500-listed companies' first quarter earnings are down 5.4 per cent versus year-ago levels and are set for a third quarter of declines.

"The deflationary pressures remain and it's hard to see markets making much headway at the moment," said Richard Griffiths, associate director at Berkeley Futures.

Investors increasingly view the world's biggest central banks as powerless to stem the growth malaise despite cutting rates to zero or into negative territory and buying trillions of dollars' worth of bonds.

MSCI's index of world stocks was down half a per cent to three-week lows after falling 1 per cent on Tuesday for its biggest one-day fall in a month.

Emerging equities also extended losses, falling more than 1 per cent.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 dropped almost 1 per cent to its lowest in more than three weeks, by a 3.2 per cent drop in basic resources stocks.

Britain's miner-heavy FTSE 100 index .FTSE fell 1.3 per cent.

Shares in Dialog Semiconductor (DLGS.DE) slumped 14 per cent after the maker of chips used in Apple and Samsung phones reported a 58-per cent drop in underlying operating profit, continuing the saga of underwhelming profits at tech firms.

"We see a continuation of the risk-off pattern that gained ground yesterday," said Daniel Lenz, a strategist at DZ Bank.

MSCI's main Asia-Pacific stocks index, excluding Japan, US fell 1.2 per cent. Japanese markets are closed most of this week for a holiday.