European and Japanese shares slipped again today, continuing a stock market sell-off that saw US shares having their worst week since last September.
The FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue chips was 0.74 per cent lower after losing more than eight percent last week. The narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index was down 0.61 per cent.
Some analysts said that the sell-off was nearing an end and that some share prices were had fallen to a fair price.
"We have seen some kind of bottom forming in the market. For techs, media and telecoms the worst is behind them and the more traditional sectors are supported by valuation," said Mr Gert de Mesure at Delta Lloyd Securities in Antwerp.
In Japan, Nikkei average lost more than two per cent to end at a three-week low, hit by falls in brokerages and high-tech exporters due to concern over the weakness of US stocks and further strength in the yen.
The Nikkei has lost about six per cent since briefly clearing 11,000 on July 8th for the first time in a month.
The euro also rallied by half a per cent, rising to within half a cent of the elusive parity level with the dollar not seen since February 2000. This morning the dollar was trading at around 116.22 yen and $0.9958.
Sliding US shares - brought on by concerns about corporate accounting, poor earnings and waning consumer confidence - have thrown up questions about the strength of the US economic recovery.
A dominant influence this week is expected to be testimony tomorrow by Fed chairman Mr Alan Greenspan before the US Senate Banking Committee, his first public comments in six weeks.