LONDON - Britain's top share index fell more than one percent as downbeat comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hit global equities already nervous about the extent of the US subprime market crisis.

The FTSE 100 closed at 6567.1 points, down 92 or 1.38 percent.ROUNDUP:EUROFIRSTEUROPE - European stocks fell for a second day in a row, hit by ongoing concern about the extent of the crisis in the US subprime mortgage market and by the euro's ascent to fresh record highs.

Banks and oil companies were the biggest negative weights on the broader equities market, yet merger activity was never far from the fore, this time with Britain's Imperial Tobacco agreeing to buy Franco-Spanish rival Altadis.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares ended at 1,602.97 points, down 1.2 percentROUNDUP:EUROmarketsFRANKFURT - The DAX index ended at 7893.61 points, down 144.6 or 1.80 percent.

PARIS - The CAC-40 index closed at 5995.97 points, down 103.24 or 1.69 percent.

ZURICH - The Swiss market index closed at 9074.07 points, down 145.25 or 1.58 percent.

MILAN - The All Share Mibtel index closed at 32834 points, down 251 or 0.76 percent.ROUNDUP:NikkeiTOKYO - Japan's Nikkei average fell 1.1 percent with technology shares such as Shin-Etsu Chemical losing ground after lacklustre results from chip giant Intel raised concerns over high-tech demand. The Nikkei closed down 201.69 points at 18,015.58.ROUNDUP:hang sengHONG KONG - Stocks consolidated after last week's record run, as Sinopec slid further on a negative refining margin outlook while miners were hit by higher resource taxes. The Hang Seng Index closed down 0.93 percent or 215.38 points at 22,841.92 on mainboard turnover of HK$84.1 billion (US$10.8 billion) compared with Tuesday's HK$78 billion.ROUNDUP:asxSYDNEY - Shares fell 0.82 percent to a one-week closing low, led by Woodside Petroleum and other energy firms on lower oil prices, while mixed base metals prices pressured mining firms. The S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 52.5 points to 6,329.1, after inching up just 0.8 point in the previous session.ROUNDUP:south africaJOHANNESBURG - Mining groups Anglo American and BHP Billiton led South African shares lower over jitters of economic slowdown in the US and China, but gold shares soared on the metal's price.

The All-share index closed at 29422.66 points, down 183.56 or 0.62 percent. The All Gold index closed at 2728.75 points, up 32.28 or 1.20 percent, while the Industrial index closed at 20262.73 points, down 12.62 or 0.06 percent.