European stocks tumble again on subprime fears

PARIS (Reuters) - European stocks fell sharply in early trade on Friday, adding to the previous day's losses as worries over the impact of the deterioration in the U.S. subprime mortgage sector rattled stock markets around the world.

At 3:23 a.m. EDT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 1.7 percent at 1,498.00, after losing more than 2 percent shortly after the open.

The benchmark index, which lost 1.8 percent on Thursday, is now up just 1 percent on the year.

Banks were leading the fall, with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) down 4.5 percent and Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) down 5 percent.

"We're in a period of global depression, and it will last a while, at least until we get a better sense of the damage in the subprime (sector) and that people calm down," said Jacques Tissier, fund manager at Stratege Finance, in Paris.

Britain's FTSE 100 index .FTSE dropped 1.7 percent, turning negative on the year for the first time since 2002.

Germany's DAX index .GDAXI lost 1.9 percent, and France's CAC 40 .FCHI, which is also negative on the year, dropped 1.7 percent.