LONDON: World stock markets fell yesterday in light pre-Christmas trade as another profit warning from Toyota weighed on investor sentiment, particularly in Germany and France.

The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 37.77 points, or 0.9 percent, at 4,249.16 while Germany’s DAX was down 57.68 points, or 1.2 percent, at 4,639.02.

The CAC-40 in France fell 74.54 points, or 2.3 percent, to 3,151.36. On Wall Street, US stocks gave up early gains and the Dow Jones industrial average was down 77.74 points, or 0.9 percent, at 8,501.37. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 15.92 points, or 1.8 percent, to 871.96.

The problems the world economy is about to face in 2009 were put in sharp relief earlier by the warning from Toyota Motor Corp. that it will likely post first-ever operating loss.

In the markets, Toyota is perceived as one of the world’s best manufacturers — and if it is experiencing times as bad as it says, then others will likely fare even worse, the reasoning goes.

“It wasn’t the best of starts to the week for markets, I have to say,” said Keith Bowman, equities analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers in London.

Automakers in Europe were badly hit by Toyota’s warning, with Germany’s BMW AG and Volkswagen AG down 3 percent and 7 percent respectively. France’s Renault SA and Peugeot SA and tiremaker Michelin were also lower in the wake of Toyota’s profits alert.

Sentiment in the US was also hit by lower-than-expected profits at Walgreen Co. The company said its profit fell 10 percent in the fiscal first quarter because of costs to open more than 200 new stores.

Though global equities have made gains in three of the last four weeks following the preceding crash, analysts remain wary amid the mounting economic gloom around the world.

Earlier, Asian markets were mixed.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 3.3 percent to 14,874.61, while South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.1 percent. Singapore, Australia and mainland China benchmarks were each down over 1. 5 percent.

Tokyo bucked the downward trend, with its Nikkei 225 stock average rising 135.26 points, or 1.6 percent, to 8,723.78 despite the latest bad news about the country’s exports.