|
Paris tops the bourses
|
 |
March 28, 2000: 12:21 p.m. ET
France Telecom, media stocks lead Paris; Frankfurt noses up, London dips
|
LONDON (CNNfn) - Blue-chip stocks in Paris jumped for a second day Tuesday, with the key French index rising more than 1 percent thanks to red-hot telecommunications and technology issues, while Frankfurt shares rose slightly and London's FTSE index turned negative.
The CAC-40 in Paris rallied 1.1 percent to close at 6,524.30, powered by France Telecom, the nation's highest-valued company. In Frankfurt, the Xetra Dax rose 0.5 percent to 7,931.93, while London's FTSE 100 fell 0.6 percent to 6,650.1. Zurich's SMI index was little changed, up 0.1 percent at 7,371.4.
The benchmark French index was held back from an even stronger gain after Goldman Sachs' Abby Joseph Cohen, a leading Wall Street market watcher, cut her recommended equity allocation in a model portfolio to 65 percent from 70 percent, analysts said. And an announcement by Paris' bourse early in the day that it would launch two new technology-oriented stock indexes stirred up investor interest in tech shares, analysts said.
Oil company stocks were in a holding pattern as OPEC oil ministers gathered to discuss production increases. Investors flocked back to the technology and telecommunication shares that have helped push Frankfurt's Xetra Dax index up more than 13 percent and Paris's CAC-40 up 8 percent this year.
Sentiment in Germany was brightened by a regional wage agreement between the government and the industrial workers trade union IG Metall that is expected to head off planned strikes. That deal is seen as likely to ease German wage pressures - and hence inflation - and as a benefit to bond markets.
'Oui' to technology stocks
Among leading stocks in France for a second straight day was Lagardère (PMMB), a defense company vying for a key role in the media business, which gained 4.2 percent amid upbeat analysts' comments.
France Telecom, (PFTE) the most-weighted stock in the CAC-40, rose 2.8 percent.
Dutch network operator Equant (PEQU) rallied 5.4 percent, a top gainer among big-cap stocks in Paris. Bouygues (PEN) climbed 1.7 percent, reversing early losses, ahead of the construction and telecom firm's 1999 earnings report, due later Tuesday.
But Paris' rally was widespread: Oil company TotalFina (PFP) rose 3.1 percent and drug maker Aventis (PAVE) rose 2.3 percent. Retailer Carrefour (PCA) tacked on 1.9 percent.
Telekom rings up big gain
In Frankfurt, Deutsche Telekom (FDTE) jumped 4.1 percent. The phone company expanded its computing business Monday by acquiring control of Debis Systemhaus from carmaker DaimlerChrysler (FDCX). Investors shrugged off a warning Tuesday by credit rating agency Moody's that Telekom's rating its still under review for a possible downgrade.
Optimism about the upcoming flotation of Telekom's T-Online Internet unit also supported the shares.
Electronic components maker Epcos (FEPC) rebounded to close up 1.9 percent, after the company forecast a 40 percent rise in sales and an 80 percent jump in orders in 2000.
Volkswagen (FVOW), up most of the day, fell 0.7 percent after Monday's $1.6 billion purchase of an 18 percent stake in Swedish truck maker Scania. The ratings agency Standard & Poor's affirmed its debt ratings on the carmaker. BMW (FBMW) climbed 1.8 percent.
DaimlerChrysler was a stand-out loser, though, dropping 2.9 percent amid concern about Monday's purchase of 34 percent of Japan's Mitsubishi Motors.
Capita heads higher in London
In London, Capita Group (CPI) jumped 10.3 percent to 1,587 pence after Morgan Stanley Dean Witter upgraded its share rating on the staffing-services company to "buy" from "outperform."
Oil producer BP Amoco (BPA) edged down 0.3 percent as traders awaited a final communiqué from the OPEC meeting in Vienna, which many observers expected to lead to increases to global oil production.
The British telecommunications sector was decidedly softer than France's.
After an early gain, British Telecommunications (BT-A) fell 0.9 percent after the U.K.'s biggest telephone company joined a consortium to bid for a Korean mobile-phone license.
Drug merger partners Glaxo Wellcome (GLXO) and SmithKline Beecham (SK-) both headed lower, even though Salomon Smith Barney said it's lifting its exposure to European pharmaceutical stocks in the second quarter. Glaxo fell 4.9 percent and SmithKline fell 4.3 percent.
Online auctioneer QXL.com (QXL) sank 11 percent to 1,320 pence a day after announcing plans to buy Swedish counterpart Bidlet AG for about $550 million in stock. But analysts said QXL.com shares weren't retreating as a result of the deal, rather pulling back from a 36-percent jump Friday.
In the currency markets, the euro fell against the dollar to $0.9614. 
-- from staff and wire reports
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
