By Simon Kennedy
LONDON (MarketWatch) --European stock markets opened lower Tuesday following heavy selling in Asian markets after Japan raised the severity level of its nuclear crisis to the highest possible rating. Among stocks on the move, shares in Delta Lloyd NV (NL:DL 17.67, -1.31, -6.90%) dropped 8.1% after Aviva PLC (UK:AV. 445.40, -7.30, -1.61%) said late Monday that it will sell part of its stake in the group. Oil producers were also lower as crude prices pulled back, with shares in BP PLC (UK:BP. 466.90, -7.85, -1.65%) (BP 46.67, -0.07, -0.15%) dropping 1.6%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 6,020, -33.49, -0.55%) fell 0.6% to 6,015.21, the French CAC 40 (FR:PX1 4,013, -25.43, -0.63%) dropped 0.8% to 4,007.60 and the German DAX 30 index (DX:DAX 7,156, -48.50, -0.67%) dropped 0.8% to 7,144.41. |
