London, March 13 (BridgeNews) - Europe's major markets slumped lower following a rout in U.S. markets Monday, easing only slightly as the Dow and Nasdaq mounted a recovery in early trading. The FTSE-100 index closed down 105.8 points to 5720.7, its lowest close since December 1998, even though a modest turnaround in heavily weighted telecoms and banking stocks lent some support and prevented an otherwise battered main index from dropping into an abyss.