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London - European stocks fell on Monday as political unrest in Egypt pushed down the share prices of oil majors and travel groups, traders said.
London's FTSE 100 index of top shares slipped 0.28% to 5 865.09 points approaching midday trade in London.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 shed 0.36% to 7 077.02 points and in Paris the CAC 40 lost 0.25% to 3 992.19.
"The sell-off that we saw on Friday has continued, with investors fleeing to more risk adverse assets," said Will Hedden, a trader at IG Index.
"As fears mount that the Suez Canal may be closed, the price of Brent Crude has shot up to a 28-month high, just short of $100 a barrel, with US crude not far behind at around $90.
"Concerns over oil supply has dampened the share price of both BP and BG Group... Unsurprisingly, the situation has hit travel firms hard, with both TUI Travel and International Airlines Group among today's losers," Hedden added.
Egyptian protesters called for an indefinite general strike and a "million man march" on Tuesday in Cairo, upping the stakes in their bid to topple President Hosni Mubarak's creaking regime.
Opec stands ready to increase oil production if the Egypt crisis cuts the flow of crucial supplies through the Suez Canal to the West, its secretary-general Abdalla Salem El-Badri indicated on Monday.
El-Badri, head of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), warned that "there could be a real shortage" of crude oil passing through the Suez.
"If we see a real shortage, we will need to act," he told reporters on the sidelines of an oil conference in London.
Stock markets in Asia mostly fell on Monday owing to the turmoil in Egypt and after last week's sharp falls on Wall Street, which were also the result of poor corporate results.
Tokyo saw heavy losses among companies directly exposed to Egypt, where Mubarak is under intense pressure from continued mass unrest, amid calls by Western governments for a peaceful transition.
Among Japanese stocks losing ground were Nissan, which suspended production at its plant near Cairo at least for this week, and Toshiba, which is preparing to build a TV manufacturing plant in Egypt.
"Trading screens are red... as global equity markets are feeling the effect of continued unrest in Egypt," said Manoj Ladwa, a trader at ETX Capital.
"While stocks resume the sell-off that began on Friday, traders are reluctant to commit funds until tensions in the Middle East dissipate," he added.
