European equities slump at open

European stocks opened sharply lower Wednesday in a global selloff as investors fretted over intensifying recession fears, heightened geopolitical concerns over Russia, and festering worries over Britain's tax-slashing budget.

The region extended Tuesday's losses, with London's benchmark FTSE 100 index tumbling 1.6 percent to 6,870.45 points.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX index dived 1.3 percent to 11,978.14 points and the Paris CAC 40 shed 1.4 percent to 5,672.99.


Central banks are tightening monetary policy in a bid to combat rampant inflation, but traders fear this will also spark a sharp downturn.

"It would appear we're in for another day of risk-off trade, with parts of Asia recording heavy losses and Europe opening on the backfoot," said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam.

"Fear of tightening-induced recessions has wiped out the recovery we saw in stock markets over the bulk of the summer."