By Cecile Lefort and Charlotte Greenfield
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Australian and New Zealand shares dived on Tuesday, joining a slump in global markets as sliding oil prices and concerns about the health of banks took a heavy toll on energy firms and reignited worries about growth across the world.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO dived 2.3 percent, or 111.393 points, to 4,864.00 by 0212 GMT, inching close to a 2-1/2-year low of 4,803.9 touched in January. All sectors of the market slipped into red, and if losses were sustained, would be the benchmark's second-largest daily drop this year.
"It almost feels like something big is brewing," said Chris Weston, IG's chief market strategist, seeing the perfect backdrop for short-selling activity.
Such was the mood that even a 2 percent bounce in oil prices failed to reverse losses in the hard-hit energy sector.
Whitehaven Coal WHC.AX suffered the most, down 7 percent to touch fresh lows. Santos dropped 5.3 percent, followed closely by Karoon Gas Australia KAR.AX , off 5 percent.
Global miners BHP Billiton (L:BLT) BHP.AX and Rio Tinto (L:RIO) RIO.AX joined in with losses between 1 and 2.6 percent.
The big four banks were not spared with National Australia Bank NAB.AX off 3.8 percent, while Westpac Bank WBC.AX shed 3.2 percent. Regional lenders Bank of Queensland BOQ.AX and Adelaide Bendigo Bank BEN.AX fell between 4 and 6 percent.
Money transfer company OzForex OFX.AX was among the rare outperformers with a bounce of 10 percent. It hit a record low in the last session.
For more individual stocks activity click on STXBZ
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 opened the week down on Tuesday after a public holiday on Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street.
The index fell 1.3 percent or 84.62 points to 6,069.18.
The biggest loser was Orion Health Group OHE.NZ , which fell 5.67 percent.
Investors were wary over tech companies, which are generally seen as a riskier bet when markets are volatile, analysts said. Accounting software firm Xero XRO.NZ lost 4.62 percent while online auction site Trade Me TME.NZ fell 1.75 percent.
Heartland Bank HBL.NZ lost 2.54 percent and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare FPH.NZ lost 2.07 percent.
Industrial thread company Coats Group COA.NZ rose 1.04 percent and Contact Energy CEN.NZ edged up 0.22 percent. (Editing by Jacqueline Wong)