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Europe bourses mixed
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June 22, 2001: 9:01 a.m. ET
European markets mixed as Nasdaq boosts techs, but German woes bite
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LONDON (CNN) - Europe's major bourses were mixed in afternoon trading Friday, amid fears Germany could slip into a recession.
Business sentiment in Germany, Europe's largest economy and a large trading partner for all the euro zone countries and the UK, plunged to a two-year low in May, German economic institute Ifo reported.
Germany suffered negative growth in the second quarter and a repeat in the third, widely expected by some analysts, would be classed as a technical recession.
London FTSE 100 index was little changed at 5,641.4, with gains by tech stocks such as software company Mysis (MYS) and telecom equipment maker Marconi (MONI) being pulled down by the UK's second biggest company, Vodafone (VOD)
Marconi headed the leader board, rising more than 6 percent, followed by
Mysis, rising 5.2 percent after announcing it had closed its Web-based financial services business.
Techs had generally made gains in the wake of a rise in the Nasdaq Thursday.
But Vodafone dropped 3.3 percent, amid speculation Dutch telecom operator KPN was selling its stake in the company.
Other telecoms fell as a result, with Colt Telecom (CTM) plunging 11.75 percent, and Cable & Wireless (CW-) dropping more than 3 percent.
The CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris rose 0.6 percent to 5,164.12, with techs such as electrical equipment maker Schneider Electric (PSU) rising 3.2 percent and software house Dassault Systeme (PDLY) up 2.7 percent.
Telecoms equipment maker Alcatel (PCGE) and Europe's biggest chipmaker ST Microelectronics [PAR: PSTM] both rose over 2 percent.
Hotelier Accor (PAC) was up 2.6 percent, on news it was part of a consortium intending to bid for Australian hotel owner Tourism Asset Holdings.
Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax fell 0.4 percent to 5,904.00 in the wake of the Ifo report.
Chemical firms continued to head downwards in the fallout from BASF's (FBAS) announcement Thursday of a profit warning, plant closures and job losses.
The company's stock dropped 2.1 percent. Rival Bayer (FBAY) was down 1.8 percent.
Germany's largest airline, Lufthansa (FLHA), was down 1.7 percent after a fall in its traffic figures for May.
Europe's banking sector rose ahead of expectations of a near-term cut in interest rates by the European Central Bank and in the U.S.
Such cuts should help a U.S. economic recovery, which should feed through to the rest of the world, and lower interest rates typically lead to more borrowing, that should be beneficial for bank profits.
Standard Chartered Bank (STAN) was up 2.6 percent in London and the Royal Bank of Scotland rose just over 2 percent.
In Paris, Societe Generale (PGLE) rose 1.6 percent and Germany's Commerzbank (FCBK) was up 1.2 percent.
In Amsterdam, the AEX index climbed 0.7 while the SMI in Zurich slipped 0.8 percent. Milan's MIB30 was 0.4 percent higher.
The pan-European FTSE Europetop 300, a broad index of the region's largest stocks, was up 0.1 percent.
In the U.S. on Thursday, investors had returned to technology, financial and retail shares, betting that lower interest rates may stem the declining corporate profits that have hammered stocks this year.
The Nasdaq composite index rose for a third straight session, up 1.4 percent to close at 2,058.68, while the Dow Jones industrial average gained 68.10 points to end at 10,715.43.
Wall Street was expected to open lower later Friday, S&P Futures dropped 1 point to 1242.0 on the Globex trading system, while Fair Value, a measure that takes account of interest costs and dividend payments, was calculated at 1244.12, a difference of minus 2.12.
In the currency markets, the euro fell against the dollar, fetching 85.25 U.S. cents from 85.44 cents in late New York trading on Thursday. 
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