The last morning of the quarter on Thursday (June 30) saw the regional Stoxx 600 index drop again.

That put it on track for a decline of more than 10% over the period.

Economists say inflation is the big worry for investors.

Those fears were stoked this week by comments from a gathering of central bank chiefs in Portugal.

They warned that taming inflation will be painful, and could even crash growth.

All eyes are now on Friday's (July 1) first estimate of euro zone price rises for June.

That's likely to guide next month's meeting of ECB policymakers, when the bank has signalled it will raise rates for the first time since 2011.

Worries over China's slowing economy and the war in Ukraine have also soured investor sentiment.

German utility Uniper was among the big tumblers on Thursday, down around 18% early on.

That after it had to withdraw its outlook for the year due to gas supply restrictions by Russia's Gazprom.