European markets recorded sharp falls in early trading on Thursday after Japan's Nikkei 225 index shed more than 1,100 points on concerns the US Federal Reserve may scale back its quantitative easing programme.
London's FTSE 100, up more than 400 points in the last month to top 6,800, traded more than 2% lower at 6,700. Other European indices also fell, with the French Cac down 2.5% and the German Dax 2.7% lower. Earlier, the Nikkei closed 7.3% down at 14,483, with Japanese ten-year government bond yields rising to over 1% for the first time in a year, as weak manufacturing data in China compounded concerns. The fall is the largest seen since the aftermath of the country's March 2011 earthquake. The Nikkei remains up almost 40% this year, but today's plunge represents a blow to the inc...
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