European stocks close: stocks closed lower on concerns over the slowdown in the global economy

Stock indices closed lower on concerns over the slowdown in the global economy and on falling oil prices. Oil prices declined on concerns over the global oil oversupply. There are no signs for an emergency meeting to stabilise the oil market.

China's foreign-exchange reserves data added to speculation on the slowdown in the Chinese economy. According to data released by the People's Bank of China (PBoC) on Sunday, China's foreign-exchange reserves declined by $99.5 billion to $3.23 trillion in January, after a drop by $107.9 billion in December. It was the lowest level since 2012.

Meanwhile, the economic data from Eurozone was weak. Market research group Sentix released its investor confidence index for the Eurozone on Monday. The index slid to 6.0 in February from 9.6 in January. It was the lowest level since April 2015.

A reading above 0.0 indicates optimism, below indicates pessimism.

"Although the values for Asia ex Japan recover something, this month results do not shape a fundamentally new image. In particular, the loss of momentum in Germany and the United States weighs heavily and stresses that the global economy is now in a very fragile state," Sentix said in its statement.

Indexes on the close:

Name Price Change Change %

FTSE 100 5,689.36 -158.70 -2.71 %

DAX 8,979.36 -306.87 -3.30 %

CAC 40 4,066.31 -134.36 -3.20 %