WELLINGTON, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- An overnight slump in European share markets overnight sent New Zealand stocks plunging 4 percent on Tuesday, extending market losses to a record 14th consecutive session.

    The New Zealand exchange's benchmark top-50 index dived 141 points in the first 30 minutes on Tuesday morning to 3506, its lowest level since September 2006.

    The index lost 5.4 percent last week and had dropped 10 percent already this year before Tuesday's plunge. The market is now down 19 percent off its last peak in early October.

    Stocks around the world, with the exception of the United States, which was on holiday, went into free fall overnight with investors bailing into safe-haven bonds and currencies amid fear a deteriorating U.S. economy will drag others down with it.

    Every share in the NZ top 50 index was down on Tuesday with market leader Telecom off 14 cents to 3.95 NZ dollars (3 U.S. dollars), Fletcher Building down 54 cents to 9.46 NZ dollars and Contact Energy down 30 cents to 6.98 NZ dollars.

    Overnight, the pan-European FTSEuro first 300 closed down 5.8 percent, taking its 2008 year-to-date losses to more than 15 percent.

    Losses on blue-chip stock indexes of Germany, Britain and France alone overnight amounted to more than 350 billion U.S. dollars, or roughly the size of the combined economies of New Zealand, Hungary and Singapore.

    Britain's leading shares fell 5.5 percent, suffering the largest one-day loss since Sept. 11, 2001. The FTSE 100 closed down 323.5 points at 5578.2, its lowest close since June 2006.