Europe shares set to track hefty Asia, US losses

LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) - European shares were set to fall sharply on Tuesday, financial bookmakers said, after U.S. and Asian equities tumbled overnight on intensifying concerns about a fragile financial sector.

Financial bookmakers called Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE down 43-48 points, or 0.9 percent, Germany's DAX .GDAXI down 34-60 points, also 0.9 percent, and France's CAC .FCHI down 24-34 points, or 0.8 percent.

Asian stocks tumbled on Tuesday after Merrill Lynch MER.N, the third-largest U.S. investment bank, said it would take a $5.7 billion write down related to bad debt, draining confidence in the unstable sector. Merrill Lynch shares fell 4.9 percent in extended trade on Monday.

On Monday major Wall Street indexes slid about 2 percent on fear of more credit and housing market turmoil and as major companies posted a mixed bag of results. (Reporting by Rebekah Curtis; Editing by Louise Heavens)