LONDON - The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 93.65 points, or 1.7 percent, to 5,282.76.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:EUROFIRST

EUROPE - By 10.45 a.m. GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares fell 1.4 percent to 1,047.64 points, falling for the second day in a row.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:EUROmarkets

FRANKFURT - Germany's DAX fell 123.78 points, or two percent, to 6,162.47.

PARIS - The CAC-40 in France was 75.30 points, or two percent, lower at 3,655.28.

ZURICH - The Swiss Market Index retreated to the lowest this month, losing 129.18, or 2 percent, to 6,265.84 at the 5:30 p.m. close in Zurich. Even so, the SMI is still up 5.5 percent from this year's low on July 5 as concern eased that Europe's debt crisis may derail the economic recovery. The broader Swiss Performance Index also fell 2 percent today.

The selling in Europe became more pronounced as Wall Street opened sharply lower - the Dow Jones industrial average was down 189.2 points, or 1.8 percent, at 10,455.05 soon after the open while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 20.89 points, or 1.9 percent, to 1,100.17.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:nikkei

TOKYO - The strength of the yen hit Japanese shares hard and the Nikkei 225 stock average closed down 258.2 points, or 2.7 percent, at 9,292.85.

The worry is that the rise in the yen will make life tough for Japan's high-value exporters - among the losers in Tokyo, Sony Corp. slid 2.8 percent and Nissan Motor Co. tumbled 3.6 percent.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:hang seng

HONG KONG - Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.8 percent to 21,294.54.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:asx

SYDNEY - Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.9 percent to 4,455.5.

@MARKET ROUNDUP:south africa

JOHANNESBURG - The FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index fell for a sixth day, losing 455.94, or 1.6 percent, to 27,461.76 at the 5 p.m. close in Johannesburg.