There were no prominent advancers.

Decliners

Rodamco Europe, the Dutch shopping centre owner, fell 4.3%. The company earlier in the week reported quarterly earnings that missed market expectations. Also in the sector, French Unibail fell 3.5 % and Spanish Metrovacesa shed 2.1%.

Stocks connected with emerging markets were lower and Raiffeisen International, the Austrian bank which owns assets across Russia and eastern Europe, fell 3.2%. EFG Eurobank, which has exposure through its Turkish assets, fell 3.5%. Swiss bank Julius Baer, the best performing stock on the SMI index this year, fell 3.8%. Eon, the German utility fell 4.2% after further doubts were cast on its 41billion euros bid to takeover Spanish Endesa.

Munich Re, the German reinsurer, fell 1.4% after it reported record full-year earnings of 3.5 billion euros, but added that it expected a general tendency towards a somewhat softer market.

Oil and gold

Crude oil for April delivery shed $1.54, or 2.5%, to $59.92 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest intraday drop since Feb. 20. It traded at $60.96 in early trade in London.

Brent crude for April settlement lost as much as $1.12, or 1.8%, to $60.24 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange and traded at $61.14 a barrel in early trade in London.

Gold rose as investors sought a haven following a rout in global equities sparked by the biggest decline in Chinese share prices in a decade and amid tension over Iranian nuclear research. Gold for immediate delivery rose as much as $9.30, or 1.4%, to $672.65 an ounce and traded at $671.95 in early trade in London.

Currenciers

The euro was lower against the U.S. dollar Wednesday as fears of a worldwide slump in markets weighed on the common currency. The euro bought $1.3188, compared with the $1.3243 it bought in New York late Tuesday. The British pound fell to $1.9552 from $1.9632 the day before. The dollar rose to 118.58 Japanese yen from 118.22 yen.