The AEX Amsterdam stock exchange responded dramatically Friday to overnight losses on Wall Street, according to dpa. The AEX closed Friday afternoon at at 502.04 points, a loss of 15.81 points, or 3 per cent. By 1:59 pm (1159 GMT) the index had dropped by 3.9 per cent. With its record low of 479.79 points, the index barely remained above the closing level of late December 2006. It marked the biggest drop of the AEX since the terrorist attacks in London in July 2005, when the index dropped from 390.33 to 375.16 points. As the day progressed, the situation improved slightly. By 4:30 pm (0230 GMT), the AEX stood at 501.44 points, a loss of 3.17 per cent. The financial industry suffered most following Thursday's news that French bank BNP Paribas froze several investment funds as a result of the crisis in the US credit market. ABN Amro shares initially dropped 10 per cent, but by 4:30 pm had recovered to a 4.73-per-cent loss. According to analysts, the bank's losses resulted from rumours that British-based Barclays, one of two parties vying for the takeover of the largest Dutch bank, wanted to withdraw its bid. Fortis NV suffered from a rumour - denied by the Belgian-Dutch bank - that it would not be able to get the financing required for the takeover of ABN Amro. Fortis' shares subsequently dropped by more than 10 per cent. Half an hour before the Amsterdam stock exchange was due to close, its shares had bounced back to a 3-per-cent loss. Insurance company Aegon, which marked a 2.13-per-cent loss by 10 am, also recovered slightly, marking a loss of 0.76 per cent 30 minutes before closing. Aegon shares dropped despite the company's statement on Thursday that the insurance company, which has 3.2 billion euros (4.5 billion dollars) invested in the US subprime mortgage industry, was "not affected" by the crisis in the US credit market.
