European shares ended lower on Friday, as banking stocks slipped again.
Automakers also fell following the failure of rescue talks for car companies in the United States.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 2.8% lower at 829.65 points. It is down about 45% to date this year due to a global credit crisis.
In Frankfurt, the DAX index ended at 4,663.37 points, down 103.83 or 2.18%. In Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 3,213.6 points, down 92.53 or 2.8%.
The Swiss market index closed at 5,636.17 points, down 93.68 or 1.63%.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 ended down 108.34 points, or 2.5%, at 4,280.35.
In Japan, the Nikkei closed down 484.68 points, 5.56%, at 8,235.87.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index ended the session down 855.51 points, 5.48%, at 14,758.39.
Australia & NZ
In Australia, stocks fell 2.43%. The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 87.6 points to 3,510.4, adding to a fall of 1.2% on Thursday.
In New Zealand, the market was 49 points, or 1.8%, lower to 2676 on turnover of $56 million.
Top stocks all fell, with Fletcher Building down 13c to $5.70, Contact Energy was down 9c at $6.78 and Telecom lost 8c to $2.32.
