After starting the year on a positive note, world equity markets slid back into negative territory in February.
Among developed markets, only two countries' indexes -- Austria and Belgium -- managed to post gains, while several others sustained significant losses.
The poor results were paced by information technology and telecommunications services.
The Information Technology Index fell 26.8 percent in a direct turnaround from a 13 percent gain in January. The Telecommunications Services Index, which gained 9.2 percent the previous month, was down 15.8 percent.
After having already dropped 1.2 percent in dollar terms in January, Japan saw a further setback of 4.5 percent, witnessing a decline for the sixth straight month.