German stocks fall more than 3.0%, pulled down by Volkswagen

Share prices on the Frankfurt stock exchange fell more than 3.0 percent in midday trading on Tuesday, pushed down by index heavyweight Volkswagen, as it ploughed ever deeper into a pollution cheating scandal.

Frankfurt`s blue-chip DAX 30 index tumbled 3.2 percent to an intraday low of 9,627.10 points, dragged down by a 20.42-percent drop in Volkswagen`s share price to 105.20 euros after the carmaker admitted that as many as 11 million diesel cars worldwide were equipped with devices that could skew emissions data.

Other auto stocks were also among the biggest losers on the index, with BMW shedding 5.81 percent and Daimler falling by 5.94 percent.

The massive sell-off in VW shares, which had already lost 17 percent the day before, was sparked when the auto giant said that it would set aside 6.5 billion euros in provisions in the third quarter to cover potential costs from the scandal and it would therefore have to adjust its annual profit targets accordingly.