European equity markets suffered further heavy losses on Tuesday.
Italy extended its sharp losses, with the FTSE MIB index shedding 3 per cent to 17,862.74, taking its fall in the past three sessions to more than 11 per cent.
Banks were again the victims. The pace of selling steadied, however, leaving UniCredit down 1.7 per cent to €1.14, while Intesa Sanpaolo lost 2 per cent to €1.50. Insurer Generali lost 2.1 per cent to €12.77.
The biggest fallers on the pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300, which lost 1.6 per cent to 1,079.65, included Austrian bank Raiffeisen International, down 5.3 per cent to €31.90, and Dutch insurer Aegon, which lost 3.6 per cent to €4.23. Germany’s Commerzbank fell 1.1 per cent to €2.67, having earlier struck a record low of €2.56.
Portugal’s PSI 20 index fell 3.1 per cent to 6,633.74, with bank Banif leading the losses, down 6.1 per cent to €0.56. Spain’s Ibex 35 lost 2 per cent, while the Athens General slid 2.6 per cent.