European markets lost ground across the board during Friday trading, but by mid-afternoon they had recovered some of the territory lost in the morning session, according to dpa. Central banks once again intervened to ensure money market liquidity, the European Central Bank (ECB) pumping in 61 billion euros (83 billion dollars), while the US Federal Reserve weighed in with 19 billion dollars shortly after markets opened across the Atlantic. Earlier the Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of Australia had added liquidity. The ECB's dramatic 95-billion-euro injection on Thursday, while dampening money market rates as intended, caused alarm in share markets, with Wall Street, Tokyo and other Asian markets showing sharp falls. On Friday the slide continued. In London, the FTSE 100 index was down 2.5 per cent at 6,112 in afternoon trade. The FTSE had earlier declined as low as 6,041. Finance houses led the fall, with banks Barclays, Standard Chartered and Royal Bank of Scotland all losing ground. Fund manager Man Group declined the most in London after halting the listing of two hedge funds on the US stock market. In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 index was down 1.4 per cent at 7,350. The DAX had earlier fallen as low as 7,294, with banks again among the biggest losers. In Zurich, the Swiss Market Index of the top 25 shares was down 2.6 per cent at 8,575, also up from a low of 8,515. In Amsterdam, the AEX stood at 501.44 points shortly before the markets closed, a loss of 3.17 per cent, but it had dipped to a low of 479.79 points during the day. In Paris, the CAC 40 was down 3 per cent at 5,455.99 points shortly before the markets closed. There were similar falls in Milan and Madrid.
