Paris, Marseille  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy moved on Monday to rally world leaders to meet on the global finance crisis and called a meeting with French financiers as share prices collapsed on the Paris Bourse.

After an EU-India summit in the southern French city of Marseille, Sarkozy, the current holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, urged world leaders to hold emergency talks on the current financial crisis "within weeks."

Sarkozy and the head of the EU's executive, Jose Manuel Barroso, "will take the initiative to gather in Paris in the next few days ... the four European members of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations (G8)," the head of the European Central Bank and the chairman of the group of countries which use the euro, the French president said.

The four European G8 countries are France, Italy, Germany and Britain.

That meeting should "prepare in the best conditions the holding of a global summit," to be held "in the coming weeks," Sarkozy said after talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

In a press statement issued in Paris, Sarkozy's office said that Tuesday's meeting at the Elysee Palace with the heads of French banks and insurance companies would "review the situation of the financial institutions as well as the availability of credit to households and companies."

Last week, Sarkozy had vowed that the French state would come to the aid of any financial institution at risk of failing, to ensure that depositors did not lose any of their savings.

The announcements came as French shares fell sharply on the Paris Bourse, with banking stocks among the big losers.

At close of trade on Monday, the Paris Bourse's benchmark CAC 40 had given up 5.04 per cent, to end the day below the psychologically important 4,000 level, at 3,953.48.

Only one stock listed on the CAC 40, Suez Environnement, ended the day in the black.

The Franco-Belgian financial services group Dexia was the biggest loser, down 28.50 per cent to 7.20 euros (10.30 dollars), as the Belgian government declared that it would come to its support as it had with the Fortis financial group, which was nationalized at the weekend.

Dexia's share price also fell because of a report in the French daily Le Figaro saying that the company could launch an emergency capital increase. Dexia called a meeting of its board of directors for later Monday.

In addition, French bank Credit Agricole was down 9.72 per cent, to 13.00 euros, while insurance giant AXA was off 7.47 per cent, at 21.55 euros. (dpa)