European equities slide at open on Turkey crisis

European stocks sank on Monday in opening deals on fears over Turkey's currency crisis, while Frankfurt also fell with chemicals giant Bayer plunging on last week's Monsanto cancer ruling.

"Clearly Turkey's situation is another global risk," said Konstantinos Anthis, head of research at ADS Securities.

"Even though the country itself has limited ties with the rest of the world, a spreading of the crisis to Europe via its banks' exposure is a major concern."

In initial deals, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top blue-chip firms dipped 0.2% to 7 648.90 points compared with Friday's closing level.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 dropped 0.6% to 12 346.75 points, with Bayer diving almost 10% as investors reacted to a shock US ruling against Monsanto, which merged with the German firm this year.

The Paris CAC 40 meanwhile lost 0.2% to 5 402.41 points.

A California jury on Friday awarded a dying groundskeeper damages of almost $290m, saying Monsanto should have warned that its flagship Roundup weedkiller could cause cancer.