LONDON, June 21: European equities fell on Thursday as dealers digested consolidation news in the stock market sector following overnight losses on Wall Street.

The latest merger and acquisition activity centered around news that the London Stock Exchange (LSE) was holding merger talks with Borsa Italiana, the owner of Milan's stock exchange.

At the half-way stage on Thursday, the British capital's FTSE 100 index of top shares dropped 0.41 per cent to 6,622.30 points, in Paris the CAC 40 slid 0.68 per cent to 6,052.09 points and Frankfurt's DAX 30 lost 0.82 per cent to 8,023.82.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares shed 0.82 per cent to 4,508.47 points.

The euro stood at 1.3384 dollars.

Wall Street shares had fallen sharply on Wednesday in a late-day selloff as an uptick in bond yields prompted investors to lock in positions in the absence of major economic news.

In Britain, the LSE's share price tumbled 1.54 per cent to 1,345 pence on London's second-tier FTSE 250 index, which in turn slid 1.46 per cent to 11,625.20 points.

The London Stock Exchange had said Wednesday that it was in discussions with Borsa Italiana to establish whether a merger of the two businesses can be agreed -- but no more details were given.

Broker Citigroup responded in a note to clients: “We believe the market is likely to be ... cynical and view it as an effort to bulk up and make it harder for Nasdaq to acquire it.—AFP