European stocks sank to near 1-year lows on Friday, as auto and bank stocks took a battering on reports of a nuclear power plant on fire amid fierce fighting between Ukraine and Russian troops. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 2.8 percent, on course for its worst weekly decline since the pandemic fuelled selloff in March 2020. A huge blaze in a building at the site of Europe’s biggest nuclear power station in Ukraine that was seized by Russian forces in heavy fighting, caused global alarm earlier on Friday. The fire was later extinguished and officials said the plant was operating normally. Safe-haven gold and bond prices jumped as investor nerves ran high, with a measure of volatility in eurozone stocks hitting 45 points for the first time since June 2020. The auto-heavy German DAX fell to 3.6 percent to hit fresh one-year lows as carmakers tumbled 5.7 percent, becoming …