LONDON: European stock markets slumped on Tuesday as investors took profits while the sterling remained cowed over the uncertainty posed by Scotland's independence referendum.
London's FTSE 100 index of top companies closed down 0.08 percent to 6,829 points.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 was down 0.49 percent to 9,710.70 points, and in Paris the CAC 40 slipped 0.50 percent to 4,452.37 points.
The British pound sank to a 10-month low of $1.6065 in Asian trading hours. In later European deals, it recovered slightly to $1.6094, which compared with $1.6104 on Monday.
But it also lost ground against the euro which traded at 80.23 pence from 80.07 late on Monday.
"The poor old pound is still under pressure as traders are not brave enough to go bargain-hunting just yet. The possibility of Great Britain breaking up has hit the pound the hardest," said David Madden, analyst at IG trading group early in the day.
A survey over the weekend showed that the pro-separation camp was ahead for the first time, forcing leaders of Britain's three main political parties to announce last minute trips to Scotland to boost support against independence.
Sterling got only a slight boost from the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, who hinted that the bank could begin to raise its key interest rates sometime early next year.
Traders reacted also to official data showing that Britain's trade deficit worsened in July from the previous month, but that the country's industrial output rebounded from June.
Eyes on Apple:
In New York, stock trading opened on the back foot, while waiting for an announcement by Apple.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.36 percent to 17,050.49 points by midday on Wall Street, and the tech-rich Nasdaq shed 0.20 percent to 4,087.09.
The broad-based S&P lost 0.34 percent to stand at 1,994.82.
The euro meanwhile remained under pressure on Tuesday after the European Central Bank last week announced a fresh rate cut and monetary easing measures.
However, the Swiss franc steadied against the euro, at 1.2068 francs to the euro, and at 0.9345 to the dollar, having initially fallen to 0.9380, the lowest level for a year.
The yuan closed up at 6.1368 to the dollar from 6.1414 on Monday.
The price of gold fell to $1,255.75 an ounce from $1,259 late on Monday on the London Bullion Market.
Oil still weak:
Brent crude oil remained below $100 a barrel, a day after falling under the key level for the first time for more than 14 months against a backdrop of solid supplies and sluggish demand growth.
Meanwhile, traders were looking ahead to an expected product launch by Apple on Tuesday.
"The key talking point today is likely to be the launch of the latest products from Apple, the largest component of the S&P 500" index on Wall Street, said Craig Erlam, analyst at Alpari trading group.
"It is widely expected that Apple will unveil the iPhone 6," he said.
"This is expected to come alongside the launch of the new iWatch which has apparently been in the works for a long time and Apple has not been the first to the market."
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