Oil and share prices fell further in early European trade as fears deepened over prospects for the global economy
The Brent crude benchmark fell $1.65 a barrel to $88.40, a price not seen since November 2010.
The head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, crystallised investors' worries about flagging economic growth when she warned the eurozone could slip back into recession.
London's FTSE 100 share index was down 29.66 points, or 0.46%, at 6,402.19.
Shares in Paris and Frankfurt were down a similar amount.
The falls came after similar declines in the US and Asia. The Dow Jones on Thursday had its biggest one-day fall of the year, closing down almost 2% at 16,659.25.
In Tokyo on Friday, the Nikkei closed down 1.15% to a two-month low of 15,300.55 points.
US oil fell $1.92 a barrel to $83.85, its weakest level since June 2012.
Both oil benchmarks have lost about 20% since their peak in June.
This week, German economic data has presented a consistently negative picture, with Thursday's release showing export numbers down 5.8% in August.
The International Monetary Fund's comments that there was a 35-40% chance of the eurozone re-entering recession piled on the woes.
The IMF also cut its forecasts for global growth in 2014 and 2015.
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