London, Frankfurt and Paris all tumbled more than six percent approaching the half-way mark while a 15-percent dive in Moscow forced a halt to Russian trading.
"We have a seriously weak and fear driven market at our hands," said Tom Hougaard, chief market strategist at City Index.
"It is anyone's guess where we will end the day.
"
Investors dumped shares after US stock markets had fallen sharply on Friday, despite US congressional approval of a 700-billion-dollar bank bailout.
On Monday, Tokyo ended down 4.25 percent as Hong Kong's stock market shed 5.
0 percent, Seoul tumbled 4.3 percent and Sydney lost 3.3 percent. Shanghai dived 5.23 percent and Mumbai was down 5.
58 percent in late afternoon trade.
European stocks plummeted after Germany's fourth biggest bank had to be rescued over the weekend -- news that pushed the euro to a 13-month low against the dollar on Monday.
Crude oil futures tumbled to eight-month lows below 90 dollars a barrel in London and New York as wo