Paris - Anxiety about corporate earnings and OPEC's announcement that it will cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day drove French shares to a five-year low at midday on Friday.

Shortly before noon, the Paris Bourse's CAC 40 index was down 10.62 per cent, to 2,959.29, its lowest level since May 2003, before recovering slightly.

France's two large carmakers, Renault and Peugeot, were among the biggest losers, giving up 18.04 and 13.72 per cent respectively, because the global car market is screeching to a halt.

On Friday, Peugeot announced drastic production cutbacks for the fourth quarter of 2008, and Renault is to shut down its French factories for at least a week because of the drop in demand for cars.

Renault shares have lost nearly 80 per cent of their value since the beginning of the year, and now stand at their lowest level since 1998.(dpa)