European stocks fell sharply on Friday as weak Chinese data, the U.S. fiscal stimulus stalemate and new quarantine rules in the U.K. raised uncertainty about the evolution of coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, Eurostat said that Eurozone economic output shrank 12.1 percent sequentially in the second quarter - matching the expectation of -12.1 reported in the first estimate.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 1.5 percent to 366.91 after declining 0.6 percent on Thursday. The German DAX dropped 1.1 percent, France's CAC 40 index lost 2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 2.2 percent.
Travel-related stocks were coming under selling pressure after the U.K. government added France, Malta and the Netherlands to its coronavirus quarantine list.
France, the second-most popular overseas destination after Spain for Britons, warned that it would reciprocate.
Lufthansa declined 2.8 percent, Air France KLM lost 4.8 percent, TUI slumped 5.3 percent, easyJet gave up 6.2 percent and British Airways-owner IAG plummeted 6.4 percent.
Oil & gas firms traded weak as oil prices edged lower after the release of weak China data. BP Plc tumbled 3 percent and Royal Dutch Shell declined 3.2 percent.
Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore were down 1-3 percent.
Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, gave up 1.4 percent after it agreed to pay more than $2.2 billion to settle U.S. claims over emissions from its diesel vehicles.
Container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd soared 10.7 percent after delivering good results in the first half of 2020.
Aareal Bank gained 4 percent as it announced an agreement to sell a 30 percent minority stake in its IT subsidiary Aareon AG to financial investor Advent International.
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