Frankfurt DAX: German shares closed more than 1 per cent weaker as Wall Street, spooked by a sharply weaker Indonesian stock market, fell from the start. The all-day computer-traded Xetra DAX ended 46.34 points down at 4,293.64 points falling through the key 4,300 points level which had earlier in the week heralded its approach towards its all-time high of 4,477.70 points.

The blue-chip DAX, escaping Wall Street's weakness, finished floor trade 44.31 points down at 4347.23 points and dealers attributed this to some foreign selling. Dealers said that in the wake of the Indonesian stock market ending nearly 12 per cent lower, fears had again been aroused that turbulence in Asian financial markets was not yet over.

Paris CAC-40: The Paris Bourse plummeted on fears about the continuing Asian crisis and the CAC-40 indicator dropped back below 3,000 points to close at 2,954.84 points. This was down 1.72 per cent from the Wednesday close. Share volume reached a substantial 11.7 billion francs on the monthly settlement market.

France Telecom rose another 3 per cent to 236.80 francs, but bank issues continued to suffer, Societe Generale plummeting 6.5 per cent to 739 francs, BNP 6 per cent to 287.6 francs, and Credit Lyonnais 5.7 per cent to 279 francs.

A study by Paribas on the possible impact of the Asian crisis on French banks - completed in late 1997 - said the costs for Societe Generale for lending to Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines could be $507 million (£372.7 million).

Milan Mibtel: Italian shares went into reverse after rising sharply since the new year as foreign and domestic institutional investors took advantage of a fresh round of Asian jitters to take profits. Volumes fell from Wednesday's record 5.2 trillion lire to 3.4 trillion lire.

Olivetti closed 3 per cent higher, against the general trend, boosted by hopes that it is close to selling its Olsy computer services division to Wang for a reported $500 million to $600 million, with Olivetti expected to retain a 20 per cent stake in the combined company.

Investment bank IMI was one of the biggest losers, falling almost 4 per cent after Wednesday's gains.