Fear of a further escalation of the Ukraine conflict by Russia and the economic consequences of the sanctions sent the European stock exchanges plummeting on Monday.

Added to this was a further increase in commodity prices, for example for oil, which increased the already existing concerns about inflation.

The German share index Dax fell by 2.2 percent to 14,257 points in the course of trading.

The expectation of Russian counter-sanctions triggered fears of supply disruptions on the commodity markets.

The European futures contract for natural gas rose by up to 35 percent to 125 euros per megawatt hour.

Nevertheless, the price was still around 50 percent below its record high in December.

Markus Fruehauf

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Brent crude oil from the North Sea rose at times by more than 7 percent to $105.07 a barrel (159 liters).

Later in the day, the price fell back to $100.55, but that was still up 2.7 percent from Friday.

Among the individual stocks, bank stocks were among the biggest losers.

Deutsche Bank shares fell by almost 7 percent, continuing their downward trend of the past few days.

Commerzbank was down almost 9 percent.

The situation was similar for other European banks: the shares of BNP Paribas lost 7.6 percent in Paris and those of Société Générale even 11.4 percent.

In Italy it hit Unicredit, whose course fell by 11.8 percent.

The Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International was even worse off with a price loss of 18 percent.

Raiffeisen, Société Générale and Unicredit are the European banks most exposed to Russia.

The crash in the other bank stocks is likely to have various reasons.

"The exclusion of Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system is not without economic consequences for the European banking sector," wrote Thomas Gitzel, chief economist at Liechtenstein-based VP Bank.

Their exclusion from international payment transactions means that these financial institutions can no longer pay their debts to their European creditors.

In addition, a general weakening of the European economy could have consequences for banks' lending business.

There is also a growing likelihood that central banks could slow down the interest rate hike they have just initiated, which would also be bad for the banks.

The President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, said on Friday that the economic outlook would be subjected to a comprehensive assessment, taking into account the latest developments.

The ECB stands ready to take all necessary measures to fulfill its obligation to ensure price and financial stability in the euro area.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) sees central banks facing new challenges as geopolitical tensions escalate.

They must carefully weigh the conflict's impact on inflation and growth prospects, BIS chief economist Claudio Borio said on a conference call on Monday.

The Basel-based institution is considered the bank of central banks,