Europe plunges at open amid lockdown fears
Shares on the major stock market indexes in Europe traded with sharp losses as the session started on Monday amid rising worries of measures the countries could opt for in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus' Omicron variant.
While German Economy Minister Robert Habeck dismissed the idea of a wide-scale lockdown, British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab underlined that the possibility of new restrictions in the United Kingdom can't be excluded at the moment.
The DAX dropped 2.4% at 9:05 am CET with MTU Aero Engines nosediving 3.72%. The CAC 40 tumbled 1.84% at 9:02 am CET. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield was the worst performer as it declined 3.66% at the open. Meanwhile, in London, the FTSE 100 dived 1.72% with IAG down by 5.09%. The euro advanced 0.14% compared to the dollar at 9:07 am CET, selling for 1.12511, while the pound lost 0.22% versus the greenback, to sell for 1.32064 at the same time.