European Shares Fall 2% After Imposing Tough Sanctions on Russia

European shares fell on Monday as Western countries imposed tough new sanctions on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine while rising oil prices fueled fears of hyperinflation.

By 0810 GMT, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 2.1%, Germany’s DAX 2% and Britain’s Financial Times 0.9%.

Crude oil prices jumped about 5 percent, while the Russian ruble fell by about 30 percent to a record low after Western countries imposed sanctions that included isolating major Russian banks from the global payments system Swift.

Shares of European banks most exposed to Russia, including Austria’s Raiffeisen, Unicredit and Societe Generale, fell between 6.3 percent and 15.8 percent, while the index of banks in the broader euro zone fell 5.2 percent.

Shares of BP, the largest energy company listed in London, fell 4.1% after the company, the largest foreign investor in Russia, announced the exit from the Russian state oil company Rosneft at a cost of up to 25 billion dollars.

The French company Renault, which owns a controlling stake in the Russian automaker AvtoVAZ, also fell 6.9 percent.