European shares to their lowest level in a year

LONDON (Reuters) – European shares tumbled on Friday to their lowest levels in nearly a year, with carmakers and banks plunging on reports of a nuclear power plant fire amid heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 3.6 percent at the close. The index lost 7 percent this week, its worst performance since a wave of losses due to the pandemic in March 2020.
The index has fallen more than 6 percent since the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine last week, as Europe is the most affected region in the world due to its dependence on Russia for energy as well as its geographical proximity to the conflict.
Asian shares have lost more than 4 percent since then, while Wall Street has recouped its losses, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 index up 2 percent.
And there were global concerns after Russia seized Europe’s largest nuclear power plant after a building inside the plant complex in Ukraine caught fire.
Eurozone shares tumbled 7.9 percent as government bond yields fell, amid growing fears of exacerbating inflation and slowing growth with higher commodity prices, due to Western sanctions on Russia, a major exporter of primary commodities.
The German auto-weighted DAX index fell 4.4 percent at the close, its lowest level in more than a year, as auto shares fell 5.6 percent to be among the worst performing European sectors this week.
Among other regional indices, the French CAC 40 lost five percent, the Italian Financial Times (MIB) 6.2 percent, and the British Financial Times 100 3.5 percent.