European shares suffer biggest slide in nearly 3 years

PARIS, Oct 15 (Reuters) - A sell-off in European stocks accelerated on Wednesday, with a key index suffering its biggest one-day slide in nearly three years, as investors slashed exposure to risky assets such as equities on mounting worries about global growth.

Greek equities featured among the worst losers, as Athens's benchmark ATG index succumbed to a second day of selling pressure and sank 6.3 percent. Traders cited political uncertainty and a spike in Greek 10-year bond yields, which rose above 7.6 percent.

"There's been a big acceleration of the sell-off in stocks, with a spike in risk aversion spreading across the board to bonds and the currency market, and even a return of stress around Greek assets," said Alexandre Baradez, chief market analyst at IG France.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares provisionally closed 3.1 percent lower at 1,252.83 points, a level not seen since December last year.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)