Growth fears spark European sell-off Europe's earnings season got under way this week amid a surge in volatile trading across Europe as investors sold out of risky assets on concerns about global growth prospects. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 lost 2.5 per cent to close at 1,153.19 while Germany's benchmark Xetra Dax dropped 3.7 per cent to 7,459.96 points, its lowest closing level this year. "The big question in markets at the moment is whether this will be a fourth year of markets facing a setback around this time of the year," said Jim Reid, strategist at Deutsche Bank. Dutch-listed ASML , however, was buoyed by stronger-than-expected first-quarter profits. Its shares rose 5.8 per cent to €55.47. News that Yara , the world's largest nitrogen fertiliser producer, planned to buy back as much as 5 per cent its shares pleased investors. They sent the shares climbing 2.4 per cent to NKr270.30. Germany's largest cable operator Kabel Deutschland stood out against its peers, buoyed by a report in Manager Magazine that Liberty Global, the US cable group, was considering a bid. Its shares rose 1.5 per cent to €72.41. Nokia and Sodexo were the worst-performing stocks over the week. Nokia reported its smallest quarterly revenues in over a decade, triggering a sell-off that sent its shares down 11.7 per cent to €2.31. Sodexo slipped 13.6 per cent to €62.74 after its first-half profits fell below expectations. The French catering group also forecast that operating profit would be flat in 2013.