BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. stocks slumped on Monday to hit over seven-month low as inflation worries mounted amid an escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The benchmark FTSE 100 dropped 127 points, or 1.8 percent, to 6,860 after tumbling 3.5 percent on Friday.
Banks led losses, with Lloyds Banking Group falling nearly 8 percent.
Ad industry giant WPP fell 5.5 percent after announcing it is discontinuing operations in Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Spectris rose 1.2 percent after the instrumentation company said it ended negotiations to buy Oxford Instruments.
Miners and oil giants advanced on soaring metals and crude prices. Anglo American, Antofagasta, Glencore, BP Plc and Shell jumped 2-5 percent.
In economic news, U.K. house prices rose at the fastest annual pace since mid-2007 to a record high in February, survey data from the Llyods Bank subsidiary Halifax showed earlier today.
The house price index rose 10.8 percent year-on-year, which was the biggest increase since June 2007, when it was 11.9 percent. House prices climbed 9.7 percent in each of the previous two months.
On a month-on-month basis, house prices rose 0.5 percent in February after a 0.2 percent climb in January. Economists had forecast 1.0 percent increase. Prices rose for an eighth successive month.
The average house price set a new record high of GBP 278,123 versus GBP 276,645 in the previous month.
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