Copper fell 3 percent, gold slipped toward US$1,600 an ounce to stand more than US$300 below its record high earlier this month, and commodities-related stocks such as global miner Rio Tinto were dumped on worries that demand will weaken as the international economy slows.

The past week has seen a broad sell-off of commodities, equities and emerging markets bonds and a rally in the dollar that has been reminiscent of the rout surrounding the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank three years ago.

Tokyo's Nikkei share average fell 1 percent, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.8 percent, with its materials sub-index shedding more than 2 percent.

S&P 500 index futures were mildly negative, after Wall Street's broad benchmark dropped 2.1 percent on September 28.

Gold has seen a shift from a negative to a positive correlation with riskier assets over the past week. Treasuries fell 0.2 percent to around US$1,605 an ounce.