Lufthansa and Air France dropped about 5 per cent each after the British government said it was watching the situation in Germany and France closely.
"There's always been this concern when lockdown measures were released that we would have a resurgence in cases and reimposition of social restrictions," said Alastair George, head strategist at Edison Investment Research. Germany's DAX stayed afloat, helped by a 2.7 per cent gain for software giant SAP SE after it announced plans to spin off and float Qualtrics, the US specialist in measuring online customer sentiment.
Investors globally were on edge as ties between the world's two largest economies deteriorated after China took over the premises of the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu in retaliation for China's ouster last week from its consulate in Houston, Texas.