French stocks succumbed to heavy selling pressure on Friday after a new coronavirus variant - B.1.1.529 - has been red-flagged by scientists over an alarmingly high number of spike mutations.
Little is known of the variant detected in South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong, but scientist said it may be able to evade immune responses or make it more transmissible.
The World Health Organization will hold a "special meeting" today to discuss if the heavily mutated strain will become a variant of interest or a variant of concern.
The benchmark CAC 40 fell 365 points, or 3.8 percent, to 6,810 after adding half a percent on Thursday.
Banks BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale tumbled 4-5 percent while automaker Renault lost 5.2 percent.
Travel stocks were hit hard, with airline Air France KLM losing more than 7 percent.
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