Germay's benchmark DAX index declines

The benchmark DAX index at the Frankfurt stock exchange slumped by nearly 500 points and closed below 10,000 points on Monday.

The blue-chip index fell by nearly 700 points and lost 476.09 points (4.7 percent). It closed at 9,648.43 points, Xinhua reported.

"All the bad things are coming together," said Robert Halver, head of the capital market analysis department of Baader bank, citing the strong euro, the slowdown of the emerging economies, the discussion about the interest rate hikes in the US.

They are enough to bring the DAX down in the weak summer season, he said.

All the 30 DAX member shares suffered losses. K+S Aktiengesellschaft, a standard and specialty fertilisers producer, topped the list of fallers. It plunged by 3.07 percent.

Heidelberg Cement AG lost 2.87 percent. The utilities company RWE AG St slipped by 2.75 percent. Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, a health care group slid by 2.69 percent. Daimler AG went down by 2.67 percent.

The turnover stood at 2.01 billion euros (around $2.29 billion). Daimler AG was the most traded share of the day with a turnover of 139.13 million euros (around $158.37 million).