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Europe close: Mixed mood
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December 22, 2000: 12:42 p.m. ET
Paris, Frankfurt get lift from Nasdaq; but London ends early down slightly
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Europe's top markets were higher Friday, with a varied pre-holiday assortment of gainers lifting Frankfurt's key index as weak telecom firms submerged London.
Closing early for the holidays, London's FTSE 100 index got no benefit from a U.S. market revival, and ended down 18 points, or 0.3 percent, at 6,097.5, at a new seven-month low. On the week, the FTSE shed 1.4 percent.
In Paris, the blue-chip CAC 40 index closed up 24.81 points, or 0.4 percent, at 5,783.73, led by hotel firm Accor (PAC) rising 5 percent and major insurers also among the top advancers. For the week, the CAC declined 0.8 percent. 
Frankfurt's Xetra Dax closed up 50.69 points, or 0.82 percent, to 6,251.40. Leading the gainers was household chemicals maker Henkel (FHKA), which rose 5.7 percent.
In other markets, Amsterdam's AEX index added 0.7 percent, the SMI in Zurich rose 0.4 percent, while the MIB30 in Milan climbed 0.8 percent.
European exchanges reopen Dec. 27.
 click here for the biggest movers on the ftse 100 in London
 click here for the biggest movers on the dax 30 in Frankfurt
 click here for the biggest movers on the cac 40 in Paris
The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was little changed. The telecom sub-index fell 1.2 percent but the electrical and electronics components sector rose 2 percent as Holland's Philips Electronics, Europe's biggest electronics maker, rose 5.4 percent. Consumer good firms, insurers, engineering firms and hoteliers rose.
"We're still seeing some rotation into more cyclical stocks ... such as consumer products makers, and industrials," said Ian Scott, an equity market strategist at Lehman Brothers. "We quite like oil stocks as well."
U.S. markets bounded higher on Wall Street trading Friday. As Europe's major markets closed, the Nasdaq composite was up nearly 5.8 percent, while the Dow Jones industrial average was up 103.90 points, or about 1 percent, to 10,591.19.
Euro cements gains
In the currency market, the euro rose to 92.26 U.S. cents from 91.64 cents in late trading in New York on Thursday, amid persistent concerns about a U.S. economic slowdown. Earlier in the day, the single European currency rose as high as 92.62 cents, the highest level seen since Aug. 1.
It was a mixed pre-holiday grab bag on Frankfurt's leader board. Utility RWE (FRWE) added 4.4 percent, electronics components company Epcos (FEPC) rose 2.9 percent, and Deutsche Telekom (FDTE) gained 2 percent.
German banks were on the upswing. HypoVereinsbank (FHVM), rose 3.4 percent after announcing it would book  350 million ($323 million) in tax-free profit in 2001 from the sale of its U.K. asset management arm, Foreign & Colonial, for 667 million ($611 million).
Among its rivals, Deutsche Bank (FDBK) rose 1.7 percent and Dresdner Bank (FDRB) added 2.2 percent.
Insurers led the way in Paris. Axa (PCS), one of the world's largest insurers, rose 2.7 percent, as rival AGF (PAGF) jumped 4.9 percent, the CAC index's leading gainer.
Auto stocks were pounded in Paris after a profit warning from Ford Motor Co. (F: Research, Estimates), the world's No. 2 automaker. Parts maker Valeo (PFR) fell 7.4 percent, car maker Renault (PRNO) shed 2.8 percent and Peugeot (PUG) dropped 3.8 percent.
In Frankfurt, BMW (FBMW) fell 1 percent and truck maker MAN (FMAN) fell 2.6 percent, although Volkswagen (FVOW) climbed 1.8 percent.
In London, media stocks were top performers: Advertising firm WPP (WPP) rose 2.9 percent, broadcaster Granada Media (GME) also rose 2.9 percent while music publisher EMI (EMI) tacked on 1.7 percent. However, on the downside in the media sector was newspaper publisher Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT), off 3.5 percent.
Springing higher in London was information technology services firm Logica (LOG), which gained 5.2 percent.
British consumer electronics retailer Dixons Group (DXSN) rose 3.7 percent after it said it expected its profit for the 28 weeks up to Nov. 11 to be broadly in line with forecasts. German retailer Metro (FMEO) added 3 percent and France's Carrefour (PCA) nosed up 2 percent.
Britain's second-largest supermarket chain J. Sainsbury (SBRY) fell 1.5 percent, reversing an early gain, after the company sold its Homebase home improvement chain for £969 million ($1.4 billion).
Oil companies racked up gains as oil prices edged higher, arresting a recent slide. BP Amoco (BP-), the world's third-biggest publicly traded oil company, rose 1.3 percent, Shell Transport & Trading (SHEL), which owns 40 percent of number-two ranked Royal Dutch/Shell Group, also added 1.3 percent and Italy's ENI rose 2.5 percent.
 Vodafone Group (VOD) fell 0.9 percent in London. The world No. 1 mobile phone company has made a $10 billion bid for Cable & Wireless Optus, an Australian cell-phone operator 52 percent-owned by London-based Cable & Wireless (CW-), according to The Australian newspaper.
Cable & Wireless, which is auctioning Optus, fell 3.3 percent in London. Elsewhere in the sector, France Telecom (PFTE) shed 2.3 percent and French rival Bouygues (PEN) fell 1.9 percent.
British American Tobacco (BATS) was the top FTSE-100 decliner, losing 4.2 percent.
-- from staff and wire reports 
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