LONDON, Sept 14:Europe’s main stock markets slid on Friday, with British home lender Northern Rock shedding a quarter of its market value after relying on the Bank of England to solve its lack of liquidity.London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares dropped 1.44 per cent to 6,272.00 points in late morning trade.

Nearing the half-way mark, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 shed 0.73 per cent to 7,481.07 points and in Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.89 per cent to stand at 5,516.32.

The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index slipped by 0.73 per cent to 4,217.88 points.

The euro stood at $1.3875, down from its record high of $1.3927 on Thursday.

Northern Rock saw its share price plunge as much as a quarter early on Friday after becoming the first British financial institution to seek serious help from the Bank of England to solve a lack of liquidity caused by the global credit squeeze.

Nearing mid-day trade in London, Britain’s fifth biggest mortgage lender stood down 21.0 per cent at 505 pence after also warning that its profits would be up to 147 million pounds (214 million euros, 297 million dollars) lower than expected.

The news by Northern Rock affected its peers, with British mortgage lender Alliance and Leicester slumping 7.84 per cent to 864 pence. Home builders also suffered, with Barratt shedding 8.73 per cent to 794.5 pence and Persimmon losing 6.80 per cent to 1,014 pence.

Whether the news of Northern Rock’s woes constitutes a final exclamation mark in the whole credit debacle or is the beginning of a more serious phase of problems for the sector is ... a question that we imagine will be most troubling investors, Bank of New York analyst Neil Mellor said.

On the European continent, Commerzbank dived 4.33 per cent to 27.15 euros and French bank BNP Paribas dropped 2.85 per cent to 2.71 euros.

Earlier Friday, Japanese share prices closed up almost two per cent after Wall Street staged a strong rally overnight on hopes for a turnaround in the troubled US auto industry, dealers said.

They said investors were also encouraged by a softer yen, which boosted export-oriented shares.—AFP