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European techs ride again
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September 14, 2000: 12:16 p.m. ET
Technology, media and telecom stocks surge; oils limit index gains
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Europe's major bourses closed higher Thursday amid strong gains for technology and telecom stocks as investors speculated that recent losses were overblown. Declines for oil shares limited the gains on key indexes after crude prices retreated from recent highs.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 77.3 points, or 1.2 percent, to 6,555.5, with telephone and media stocks taking the lead.
 The blue-chip CAC 40 in Paris rose more than 1 percent to 6,637.91 and Frankfurt's Xetra Dax climbed 42.24 points, or 0.60 percent to 7,048.50. In smaller markets, Amsterdam's AEX index was little changed at 677.32 and Italy's MIB 30 rose 0.6 percent, but Zurich's SMI dropped 0.4 percent.
The FTSE Eurotop 300 index, a basket of Europe's largest companies, gained 0.9 percent, with sub-indexes for technology, telecom and computer services shares all up more than 2 percent. The oil and gas segment was the leading decliner, off 2.8 percent.
Markets barely reacted to the European Central Bank's decision to leave key interest rates unchanged. Euro-zone monetary chiefs left interest rates unchanged at their Thursday meeting despite the climate of high oil prices and the weak euro, which contribute to inflation.
U.S. markets were in a mixed mood Wednesday midday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 59.20 points, or 0.5 percent, to 11,122.98 and the Nasdaq composite jumped more than 2 percent to 3,975.00.
In the currency market, the euro strengthened slightly to 86.18 U.S. cents from 86.11 cents in late New York trading a day earlier.
Gains for phone shares
In Europe's telecom sector, leading gainers in London were business telephone operator Colt Telecom Group (CLT), rising 8.9 percent; phone equipment maker Marconi (MNI), which added 9 percent; and internet data carrier Energis (EGS), which rose 8 percent. In Paris, Marconi rival Alcatel (PCGE) climbed 7.3 percent, data network operator Equant (PEQU) jumped 4.5 percent, and France Telecom (PFTE) rose 2 percent.
Among the industry's European heavyweights, Germany's Deutsche Telekom (FDTE) added 2.1 percent while Vodafone Group (VOD) added 3.7 percent in London.
 Music publisher EMI Group (EMI) jumped 9.1 percent amid speculation the company is prepared to offer significant concessions in its attempt to win European Union antitrust regulators' approval for its planned joint venture with the music division of Time Warner Inc. (TWX: Research, Estimates), the parent of CNNfn.com.
Elsewhere in the U.K. media sector, shares of Financial Times publisher Pearson (PSON) climbed 7.1 percent and financial news and information firm Reuters (RTR) added 5.5 percent.
French information technology firm Cap Gemini (PCAP) surged 4.7 percent after reporting first-half net profit rose 76 percent and predicting that sales for the whole of 2000 would rise 10 percent on a pro forma basis.
German software maker SAP (FSAP) was up 2.7 percent while Britain's Sema Group (SMA) added 4.2 percent.
Oil companies headed lower after Brent crude oil prices for November delivery fell 53 cents Wednesday to $31.47 a barrel. The U.K.'s BP Amoco (BPA) fell 3.3 percent, and Shell Transport & Trading (SHEL), the British co-owner of Royal Dutch/Shell, shed 2.4 percent. In Paris, TotalFina Elf (PFP) declined 2.3 percent.
The leading decliner in London was aerospace systems maker BAE Systems (BA-), which dropped 7.9 percent after reporting that half-year pretax profit rose to £480 million ($677 million) from £358 million, in line with analysts' forecasts. BAE said budget constraints on many of its customers continued to affect business, and that order intake in some activities had fallen short of expectations.
 British biotech company Celltech Group (CCH) slumped 3.9 percent from a six-month high set Tuesday. Lehman Brothers Thursday cut its rating on Celltech shares to "neutral" from "outperform," market sources told Reuters.
In Frankfurt, Deutsche Lufthansa (FLHA) was up 5.9 percent. Reports said courier DHL - in which the airline holds a stake of about 25 percent - is about to be sold to Deutsche Post, Germany's postal service operator. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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