More than 97 per cent of stocks in the STOXX 600 were trading in the red with many toppling from record highs, wiping out around €180 billion of market capitalisation from the European share index.
Meanwhile, safe-haven investment options such as gold and government bonds rose as the death toll from the outbreak in China increased to 81 and the number of cases of infection jumped by about 30 per cent in a day. Other companies in the luxury space such as Burberry Group Plc, Moncler SpA, Swiss watchmakers Swatch and Richemont declined between 2.7 per cent and 4.6 per cent while airport retailer Dufry AG was set for its steepest one-day drop in more than a year.