European stocks drop amid resurgence of Italian banking crisis

The European stocks had a negative start to a brand new week, now extending losses amid resurgence of concerns over Italian banking sector crisis, in wake of next month’s Italian referendum. Markets fret over multiple bank failures if the Italian PM Renzi loses the upcoming referendum, which continues to dampen investors’ confidence.

The crisis-hit Italian bank, Monte Paschi, halted trading after falling 7.50% in Milan trade, while the overall Italian banking index was down 3% so far, meandering near eight-week lows.

Further, rising concerns whether OPEC will be able to reach the oil output deal on Wednesday at its meeting in Vienna dragged the region indices lower, especially the commodity-heavy FTSE 100 index.

Meanwhile, Germany's DAX 30 index drops -0.91% to 10,600 levels, while the UK's FTSE 100 index dives -1% to 6,773. Among the other indices, the French CAC 40 index declines -1.05% to 4,504 while the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index drop -0.91% to now trade around 3,017 points.