The pan-European Stoxx 600 is down 0.36 percent lower with almost every sector in the red. The benchmark has hit its lowest level in almost five months. Basic resources was the worst-performing group of stocks, down 1.4 percent, on trade concerns.
• Asian shares skidded for a sixth straight session on Thursday, oil slipped and safe-haven gold gained with investor confidence shaken by turmoil in emerging markets and jitters over a potentially severe escalation in the U.S.-China trade war.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS dropped more than 1 percent to hit a one-year trough of 515.24 points.
• Japan’s Nikkei fell on Thursday on the back of broad weakness in global equities, while investors awaited damage assessments after a powerful earthquake in Hokkaido, the latest in a series of natural disasters to hit the country this year.
The Nikkei share average dropped 0.4 percent to 22,487.94, with overall sentiment also depressed by global trade tensions that have put a squeeze on world equities this summer.
• China stocks closed lower on Thursday as investors fretted about the possible imposition of new U.S. tariffs on imported goods from China, which could come as early as this week.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index ended 12.74 points, or 0.5 percent, lower at 2,704.34.
The blue-chip CSI300 index ended down 1.07 percent, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.93 percent, the consumer staples sector down 2.56 percent, the real estate index down 2.22 percent and healthcare sub-index down 1.38percent.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC