European markets fall over crisis concerns

GROWING concern over the prospects of the eurozone pulled all European markets downwards yesterday, in most cases for a third consecutive day.

News that Europe’s policymakers are considering renegotiating the terms of a Greek bailout increased concern over the crisis in the eurozone.

Banking stocks across the continent fell on uncertainty over their exposure to the crisis.

Deutsche Bank fell by 4.3%, as it scrapped its previous profit forecasts and announced its intention to cut 500 jobs.

Dexia — the Franco- Belgian bank — tumbled to a record low on concern that it could become the first financial institution to go bust on the back of the eurozone debt problem.

The National Bank of Greece, meanwhile, fell to its lowest stock value since the mid 1990s.

All European bourses suffered declines. Of the headline exchanges, the DAX in Frankfurt showed the largest falls — down by 2.98%. In London, the FTSE-100 fell by 2.58%; while Paris’ CAC-40 index slipped by just over 2.6%.

Despite bucking the trend with a marginal gain on Monday, the ISEQ fell into line with other exchanges, and showed a 3.5% drop to 2,430 points.

The list of notable fallers was long with significant share value erosions for the likes of AIB, Bank of Ireland, DCC, CRH, C&C, Aer Lingus, Ryanair, Elan and FBD.