German business confidence dropped to the lowest point for more than five years in October, a key index showed on Monday, as the biggest European economy reeled from the international financial crisis.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, the Japanese megabank buying a chunk of Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley, said on Monday it would tap investors for up to 10.5 billion dollars to weather the financial crisis.

KBC became the latest Belgian bank to get its capital shored up by the Belgian state which pumped 3.5 billion euros (4.4 billion dollars) into the group on Monday after a share slump.

Europe's biggest economy has seriously hit the skids, a key survey showed on Monday, leading analysts to forecast a German recession well into next year.

More than $5.6 trillion was wiped off the value of sharia compliant equities during the third quarter as markets nosedived due to the global financial crisis, Standard and Poor's (S&P) said on Monday. The ratings agency said the fall shows sharia investors are not immune to the global financial crisis, but that investors in equities that comply with Islamic law have benefited from their lack of exposure to financial stocks, which have been the focus of the market sell-off.