Frankfurt Dax: 5268.40 (-207.85)

The Frankfurt closed almost 4 per cent lower, dragged down in late trading by the hefty selling on Wall Street and the continued anxiety over the state of Asian markets. The Dax index was down 3.8 per cent while the electronically-traded Dax index was 3.2 per cent lower. Dresdner was down 5 per cent on reports that it is planning to buy Paine Webber for $10 billion.

Paris CAC-40: 3845.98 (-93.47)

Paris, which fell by 2.53 per cent on Monday, added a 2.37 per cent plunge on Tuesday to return to its level of late last April. The CAC 40 indicator has now given up 12.7 per cent since reaching a record high on July 20th during that session. The CAC had fallen as low as 3800 and dealers expressed satisfaction that the market had bounced after hitting that low.

Milan MIBTEL: 22804 (-642)

The Milan market was nearly 3 per cent lower for the same reasons as other markets. Olivetti fell 2.5 per cent while Autostrade moved against the trend, ending up over 1 per cent.