Frankfurt - German shares fell in early trading Monday, the DAX index of the leading 30 shares traded on the Frankfurt bourse falling 2.8 per cent to 6,059.

Traders said there was no panic in the market, noting that the year-low of 5,999 had not been breached and that the DAX had recovered slightly after falling below 6,050.

There was understanding in the market that the US government could not step in to bail out every bank that had overreached itself in mortgage market speculation.

The MDAX mid-cap index lost 3.1 per cent, while the TecDAX of hi-tech stocks fell 3.3 per cent. The EuroStoxx 50 index of top European shares lost 2.9 per cent. (dpa)