German benchmark DAX index at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Wednesday dropped sharply by 2.87 percent and closed at 8,571.95 points, reaching the lowest level in a year.
The Dax accelerated its decline in the afternoon after disappointing economic data from the United States and lost by about 2.12 percent to 8,638.23 points. Thus, the losses since reaching the intermediate highs in mid-September at 9,891 points added up to more than 1,200 points.
All of the Dax 30 companies fell, led by the multinational conglomerate corporation ThyssenKrupp AG which went down by 4.97 percent. Other top fallers included the Commerzbank AG, the electric utilities company RWE AG St, Deutsche Bank AG and the utilities supplier E.ON AG, down by 4.63 percent, 3.86 percent, 3.78 percent and 3.78 percent respectively.
The turnover stood at 5.00 billion euros (around 6.33 billion U.S. dollars). Daimler AG was the most traded share of the day with a turnover of 403.08 million euros (around 510.54 million U.S. dollars).