European shares ended weaker on Friday, retreating for the 12th time in 13 sessions as fears deepened of more losses in the financial sector.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares ended down 0.3% at 760.54 points falling to its lowest close since April 2003.
Barclays fell 13.5% as concerns grew that the bank may require further capital or be nationalised. BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered and Societe Generale were down 5.75% - 7.8%.
Insurers were also down. Swiss Re lost 19.2%.
In Frankfurt, the DAX index ended at 4178.94 points, down 40.48 or 0.96% after by 187.34 points over the week.
In Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 2849.14 points, down 20.48 or 0.71 %. The Swiss market index closed at 5306.91 points, down 22.53 or 0.42%.
However, oil company stocks rebounded from earlier falls as crude stayed above $US42 per barrel. BG Group, Royal Dutch Shell and Total were 1.5% - 2.8% higher.
Drug makers were also up. Germany's Merck KGaA rose 8.6% after it pulled ahead of Novartis in the race to develop the first pill for multiple sclerosis.
AstraZeneca was up 3.6%: analysts expect fourth-quarter earnings will be boosted by sales of a cholesterol drug, Crestor.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 ended flat after dropping below the 4,000 mark for the first time since early December.
The index ended up by 0.24 points, or 0.01%, at 4,052.47. It is down over 8% to date this month after falling more than 31% last year.
Other markets
In Japan, the Nikkei average slid 3.8% to its lowest close in two months.
The index closed at 7,745.25. Since last Friday it has lost 484.9 points.
In Hong Kong, shares closed slightly lower, but turnover was thin due to the Lunar New Year holiday.
The Hang Seng Index closed 0.6% lower at 12,578.60, losing 676.91 points over the week.
Australian stocks fell 4.1% to their lowest close since February 2004. The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 144.1 points to 3,342.7, bringing losses for the week to 5.9% or 208.2 points.
The All Ordinaries index fell 131.6 points, or 3.83%, to 3,300.3 - its lowest close since January 2004 when the index closed at 3283.6.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 index fell 29 points, or 1%, to close at 2705 on market turnover of $66 million.
