Hit by further dollar weakness, Paris had another volatile day, sliding 139.0 to 2,958.66 on the CAC-40 index. The benchmark is now 96 points above its January low.
Trading volumes were again relatively modest, suggesting that the actual weight of selling was far from heavy.
Market heavyweight France Telecom, for example, saw very average turnover of 654 million francs. The shares came off Ffr25 at Ffr370 after downbeat trading statements from Italian rival Telecom Italia and from Global One, France Telecom's joint venture with Deutsche Telecom and Sprint of the US.
Frankfurt tumbled as the dollar plunged to its lowest level against the deutschmark for 20 months and the Xetra DAX index lost 202.27 to 3,861.89.
Motor manufacturers led the way down towards their lowest levels of the year as the outlook for their foreign earnings were depressed by weakness in the dollar. Daimler-Benz dropped 12.80 deutschmarks to DM103.75 and Volkswagen lost DM7 to DM94.80. BMW tumbled DM118 to DM920 a day after it recalled 2.4 million cars to replace radiator caps. Among the other big losers, insurer Allianz dropped DM39.40 to DM425.10, while HypoVereinsbank, let off more lightly than some of its competitors in recent falls, gave up DM8.80 to DM109.50.
Amsterdam suffered along with the rest of Europe with financials racking up heavy losses for the second day running and Philips falling 6.9 per cent. The AEX index ended off 29.44 at 827.67.
Philips tumbled 6.10 guilders to Fl 82.40, while among financials ABN- Amro and Aegon both gave up more than 5 per cent, slipping Fl 1.60 to Fl 28.20 and Fl 7.60 to Fl 132.40 respectively. Madrid ended lower at 7,195.2 on the general index. Among banks, Santander managed to buck the trend, improving 40 pesetas to Pta1,895 in spite of a a downgrade by Lehman Brothers on Latin American concerns. Telefonica lost Pta220 to Pta4,970.
In Milan, Telecom Italia was hit by a wave of selling on uncertainty over profit forecasts and were suspended from trade twice when the shares fell more than the permitted 10 per cent. The shares finished 887 lire lower at L9,150.
Helsinki pared a 10 per cent intra-day plunge but was still sharply lower by the close, reflecting a further pull back in Nokia. The Hex index lost 302.25 to 3,371.42, its biggest single-session fall ever, and its lowest close since mid-January.
Nokia took another tumble as Merrill Lynch cut its recommendation on the stock and in continuing response to weakness in the US high-tech sector. By the close the shares were down 40.10 Finnish markka to FM300 for a two-day fall of 17.8 per cent.
