European equities fell nearly 2 per cent today as Wall Street was hit by new worries about more losses in the financial sector that eclipsed another cut in US interest rates.
By 9.20am, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was 1.8 per cent weaker at 1,305.2, extending an early fall and adding yesterday's 0.7 per cent loss.
HSBC lost 2.5 per cent, UniCredit shed 3 per cent and Royal Bank of Scotland surrendered 4.5 per cent. UBS, which unveiled $4 billion in new write-downs yesterday, tumbled 5 per cent.
In Dublin the Iseq was also down almost 100 points or 1.5 per cent to 6656, with the main financial stocks off between 1 and 2 per cent in early trade.
The DJ Stoxx 600 index is limping towards its worst January on record, down more than 13 per cent this month.
Persistent concerns about more rating agency downgrades to the top US bond insurers drowned out the cheers for Wednesday's 50-basis point rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
London's FTSE 100 fell 1.7 per cent, Paris's CAC-40 lost 1.6 per cent and Frankfurt's DAX tumbled 1.9 per cent.
Earlier, Asian stocks rose 0.8 per cent, brushing aside worries about bond insurers' credit ratings.