Traders work at their desks in front of the DAX board at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The DAX 30 lost 2.95% to finish at 10,124.52 points yesterday.

AFP/London

World stock markets were hammered with heavy losses yesterday, as China’s economic woes triggered European and Wall Street equity sell-offs and stirred up fears for global growth.
In Europe, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index sank 2.83% to close at 6,187.65 points, falling for the ninth consecutive day and wiping £160bn off the value of UK-listed companies, analysts said.
The CAC 40 in Paris plunged 3.19% to end the day at 4,630.99 points, and Frankfurt’s DAX 30 lost 2.95% to finish at 10,124.52 points.
Markets in several other eurozone countries also lost nearly or over 3% including Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan and Madrid.
“China’s currency devaluation is at the heart of the rout in global markets so another drop in Chinese stocks (Friday) translated to losses across other benchmark indices,” said Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
“The European indices are following the American markets which are in sharp decline after having resisted rather well up to now,” said Alexandre Baradez, analyst at IG France.
US shares headed sharply lower for a third day yesterday. Around midday in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.38%, the S&P 500 lost 1.78% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite sank 2.06%.
“Panic selling has hit US stock markets which tanked on the open as global growth concerns continued to weigh on sentiment following disappointing Chinese economic data,” said Lawler.
Meanwhile on foreign currency markets, the dollar slipped against the euro after the US Federal Reserve earlier this week dampened expectations of a US interest rate rise next month.
The euro jumped to $1.1354 — after earlier hitting $1.1363, its highest level in two months — from $1.1141 late on Thursday in New York.
The European single currency strengthened despite renewed unrest in Greece, where Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced his resignation on Thursday and called for snap elections.
Tsipras went on the offensive to defend the country’s massive bailout after it triggered a rebellion within his own hard-left party.
A leader who remains popular with the electorate, Tsipras had been widely expected to call polls in a bid to regain office with a stronger hand.
Tsipras’ announcement came on the same day the debt-crippled country received its first €13bn ($14.7bn) in bailout cash, effectively starting the mammoth rescue package agreed to last month, worth around 86bn euros over the next three years.
The money arrived just in time to allow the Greek government to make a key debt repayment of 3.4bn euros to the European Central Bank.
Athens’ main stocks index yesterday sank 2.49% to close at 635.31 points.