LONDON (Reuters) - European shares tumbled 3 percent by midday on Friday, putting them on track for their biggest one-day fall in more than four years, as credit market fears intensified.

The fall is the latest in a series of wobbles in global equity markets that have punctuated a four-year bull run.

This year, European markets as measured by the FTSEurofirst 300 index have slipped at different times on the back of growth fears, a rise in bond yields and, most recently, a credit market crunch.

The latest fall in stocks was prompted by French bank BNP Paribas freezing three funds that invested in U.S. subprime mortgages.

Fears that the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis could spread to the wider economy have roiled global markets on several occasions since June.

Here is a list of the top 10 percentage losses in a day in the pan-European's FTSEurofirst 300 of top companies index in the past 10 years, along with the 10 top percentage losses in one day in the Dow and S&P500 in the past 20 years.

Biggest percentage falls in the FTSEurofirst 300 since 1997:

Date Percentage 1 week later 1 month later

Oct 28 1997 -4.9 -1 0.2