The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down around 0.75 percent shortly after the opening bell, with all sectors and major bourses in negative territory.
Market focus is largely attuned to a possible economic slowdown over the coming months. It comes after China reported weaker-than-expected retail sales data on Friday. The sector grew at its weakest pace since2003 in November, with disappointing industrial and domestic demand figures also darkening the Asian giant’s economic outlook.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.4 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2.1 percent.
· Japan’s Nikkei tumbled on Friday, led by SoftBank and other large-cap stocks, hit by a dull futures and options expiry and worrisome economic indicators from China and Japan.
The Nikkei share average dropped 2.0 percent at 21,374.83. The index had climbed 3.2 percent, or 668 points, in the last two days.
For the week, the Nikkei fell 1.4 percent.
Nikkei futures and options contracts expiring in December settled at 21,618.88, according to Japan Exchange Group.
Selling by investors who had hoped for a higher Nikkei futures and options settlement was putting pressure on the market, traders said.
· Chinese shares slumped on Friday, with investor worries about the state of domestic economy rising on fresh data that showed weakening consumer sentiment and slowing industrial growth amid trade tensions with the United States.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 1.5 percent at 2,593.74.
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