LONDON, April 18: Europe's main stock markets slumped yesterday as investor worries intensified over the plight of Greece and they took profits after having pushed indices to highs levels, analysts said.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 index tumbled 2.58 per cent to 11,688.70 points, while the CAC 40 in Paris slumped 1.55 per cent to 5,143.26 points.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index ended the day down 0.93 per cent to 6,994.63 points. Madrid shed 2.17 per cent and Milan 2.40 per cent.
"Global equity markets experienced a heavy sell-off during the last trading session of the week as fairly tepid economic data and renewed concerns regarding Greece's debt issues continue to dominate the markets, weighing heavily on market sentiment," said analyst Myrto Sokou at Sucden Financial Research. With London and Frankfurt recently hitting record highs and Paris touching seven-year peaks, investors had profits to take.
The DAX tumbled 5.6 per cent over the week, but was showing a 19.2 per cent gain since the start of the year. The FTSE, which slid 1.3 per cent over the week, was up 6.5 per cent from the start of the year. The CAC is up 20.4 per cent this year despite losing 1.9 per cent over the past week.
In foreign exchange activity, the European single currency rose to $1.0777 from $1.0761 at the fixing late in New York on Thursday.
"Another day brings another story about Greece, and once again the inability of the Greek finance minister to employ a light touch has spooked markets," said IG analyst Alastair McCaig.
"Bond markets, normally immune to the volatility that equities frequent, have seen Greek yields skyrocket as the chances of them defaulting grow ever more likely."
Volumes were lower than usual, analysts said, owing to a global breakdown of Bloomberg trading terminals.