Shares in German airline Lufthansa tumbled after a plane in its low-cost division Germanwings crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday.
The Airbus A320 jet, on its way from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, came down near the ski resort of Barcelonnette in southeastern France, officials said.
News of the crash sent shares in Lufthansa sinking more than four percent, but they recovered to end the day down 1.56 percent at 13.57 euros, still the worst performer on the Frankfurt stock market.
“Tragically, market movement cannot always been driven by pure stats,” said Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex trading group.
“News that a Germanwings plane has crashed in the south of France caused a fall in (the share price of) Lufthansa … alongside Airbus, the plane’s manufacturer,” he told AFP.
“Much of the selling is due to uncertainty as to the cause, but questions will be asked and investor confidence and the impact of passenger numbers should not be underestimated,” said Guardian Stockbrokers analyst Atif Latif.
Shares in European planemaker Airbus initially sank more than 2 percent in Paris, but ended the day with a gain of 0.52 percent at 60.31 euros.
Eurozone markets mostly pushed higher Tuesday on encouraging economic signals.
