A fresh slide in the price of crude wiped tens of billions of dollars off oil companies’ market value on Friday and signalled an end to the sector’s safe-haven status, as fears mounted over future profits and dividend payouts.

Fund managers described the last 24 hours of trading as “capitulation” — the point at which a sell-off becomes widespread and panic-driven — as investors reassessed whether the sector could keep gushing cash after Opec’s decision not to cut oil production to fight a supply glut.

Brent plunged below $70 a barrel for the first time since 2010, leading a selloff in commodities and energy shares. Treasuries advanced and the dollar reached a five-year high, while retailers rose amid Black Friday sales.

West Texas Intermediate tumbled 10 per cent to $65.99 at 1:53pm, for the biggest drop in more than five years. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 0.3 per cent and the Russell 2000 Index fell 1.5 per cent, as US markets reopened after the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its production ceiling unchanged, underscoring the price war in the crude market and challenge to US shale drillers. The rout in oil is damping inflation, with price growth slowing in Japan and Germany and already negative in Spain. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and United Parcel Service Inc. jumped as shoppers go to stores and online for the Black Friday weekend.

Strategy

Harry Tchilinguirian, BNP Paribas’ London-based head of commodity markets strategy, said: “Opec is forfeiting its role as a swing supplier to balance the market, and is giving back the role to market mechanism.” Oil prices have been sliding for months, but the pain has mostly been felt by oil-services suppliers rather than majors like Royal Dutch Shell or Total. Investors maintained some faith in them based on their record. That faith appeared to erode yesterday, when $33 billion in market capitalisation was wiped off the sector in Europe.

Dow members ExxonMobil and Chevron lost 3.5 per cent and 5.3 per cent, respectively. Oil services titan Halliburton plummeted 11.2 per cent, while independent producer Continental Resources tanked 16.9 per cent. Overall, the selloff since Thursday amounts to around $67 billion in lost market value, Reuters estimates. That compares with a total dividend payout from the sector of $41.6 billion in the second quarter of 2014, according to data from Henderson Global Investors.