The Amsterdam stock exchange opened substantially higher on Thursday morning as bargain-hunters saw their chance to profit from the massive reduction in share prices over the last few days.

The AEX index of blue-chip shares was around 2.5% higher at almost 294 points by 9.45am.
Insurer Aegon was up 3.5% despite its announcement on Thursday that it had to write down €420m from its credit portfolio.
Trading in troubled financial services group Fortis remained suspended on Thursday morning. The suspension was made on Monday following the Dutch and Belgium government’s rescue package.
Thursday’s Volkskrant reports that the AEX has lost €265bn of its combined value since the beginning of this year. The total value of listed companies on the AEX was €362bn at the end of trading yesterday – 42% lower than January 1.
The blue chip index fell over 7% for the third time in 10 days on Wednesday.