Companies listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange saw their market value shrink by about one-third to around €178bn in the first nine months of this year compared with the same period in 2007, according to national statistics office CBS.

The nine-month decline, due to the credit crisis and takeovers, is the biggest since 2002 when €190bn was wiped off the value of Dutch bourse-listed firms.
Financial companies were hardest hit, losing half their market capitalisation in the January to September period.