Amsterdam - The main AEX index on the Amsterdam stock exchange opened at this year's absolute low of 231.09 Thursday, down 2.9 per cent from the previous day's closing figure.

The previous low of 231.50 was reached in October.

By 9:30 am (0830 GMT), the AEX demonstrated little change and stood at 231.53, a loss of 2.77 per cent compared to closing time Wednesday, when the AEX had lost 5 per cent.

For the second consecutive day, financial companies were hit most: the share value of insurer Aegon dropped 6.92 per cent, followed by bank and insurance giant ING Group, which was down 6.37 per cent.

The share value of GPS manufacturer TomTom dropped 5.58 per cent. (dpa)