Apple is worth as much as all eurozone banks

London - US technology company Apple is now worth as much as the 32 biggest euro zone banks.

That's the stark result from a steep fall in the share price of banks including Spain's Santander , France's BNP Paribas , Germany's Deutsche Bank and Italy's Unicredit , compared to a steady rise in Apple's valuation, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Earlier on Friday the DJ STOXX euro zone banks index fell 4%, valuing its 32 members at $340bn. That's based on the market capitalisation of their free-float shares, which for some French banks in particular is less than 100%.

The index has crashed by a third since the start of July, hammered by fears banks will lose billions from their holdings of euro zone government bonds and a failure of policymakers to stop a euro zone debt crisis from spreading.

The euro zone banks have lost three-quarters of their value since peaking in May 2007.

In contrast, Apple's market capitalisation has soared to $340bn on the back of the success of innovative technology products like iPods, iPhones and iPads.