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Bourses recoup a bit
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February 10, 1999: 12:56 p.m. ET
A tentative Wall St. recovery helps lift Europe, but bourses still end lower
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LONDON (CNNfn) - After edging ominously into the red most of the day, European equity markets grappled back with grit, if not gusto, Wednesday. But none of the major bourses could make the final leap into positive territory, despite a promising comeback on Wall Street.
Germany's electronically traded Xetra Dax finished nearly 1 percent lower, weighed down by the specter of strikes in the industrial sector and a poor sales report by Metro (FMEO), Europe's largest retailer.
Metro stock closed 2.65 percent lower at 63.90 euros after 1998 sales came in below expectations.
In London, the FTSE finished lower for the sixth straight day, knocked off its balance by Wall Street's overnight decline. But the index weathered an 82-point decline to claw its way back up to close down 0.17 percent, or 9.7 points, at 5,770.2.
Paris investors took heart in Wall Street's tentative recovery to pare some early losses. But the CAC-40 still ended down nearly 1 percent, at 4,001.93 as traders continued to fear a possible U.S. interest rate hike. Swiss shares slid nearly 2 percent in Zurich.
In London, markets barely winced at a Bank of England report predicting inflation likely will stay close to a 2.5 percent target over the next two years. The bank also scaled back its economic forecast, saying the rate of GDP growth is expected to slow to 0.5 percent to 1 percent this year before recovering by the middle of 2000.
The picture was a scrambled Wednesday in the digital television sector. Better-than-expected sales at BSkyB's new 140-channel Sky Digital service sent shares in the British pay-TV titan into the stratosphere,
BSkyB (BSY) stock shot up 14.4 percent to 475 pence after the company said it had signed up 120,000 new subscribers to its digital service since its launch last October. But shares of digital rival Carlton (CCM) and Granada (GAA) slipped 6.15 percent and 1.06 percent, respectively. The companies are equal partners in the terrestrial TV service, ONdigital.
Electrical retailer Dixons Group (DXNS) took a cue from retreating U.S. Internet stocks, closing down more than 3.5 percent at 972 pence.
Oil stocks betrayed some weakness Wednesday as a poor global economic climate and low oil prices continued to exert pressure on share prices.
BP Amoco (BPA) slid 1.82 percent to 866 pence on a day on which the multinational firm announced 330 job cuts this year in Colombia and a further workforce reduction of 400 at a facility in Scotland. A BP-led consortium also announced Wednesday it had discovered at least one gas field in the Caspian Sea estimated to contain 300 billion cubic meters of reserves.
The losses spread through the sector pipeline to Paris, where Elf Aquitaine (PAQ) lost nearly 6 percent to close at 94.45. Total (PFP) slid more than 4 percent to end at 93.05.
In Frankfurt, Deutsche Bank (FDBK) chief Rolf Breuer said the basic terms of Germany's planned compensation fund for Holocaust victims should be agreed upon within 90 days. Deutsche Bank shares fell 0.70 euros to 47.75.
BMW (BMW) stock gave up 11 euros to 706 as Ford Motor Co.'s CEO said he had not talked to BMW's Quandt family about an acquisition. 
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