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Europe techs tumble
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July 5, 2001: 12:05 p.m. ET
Major bourses fall after Marconi, ASML fray investors' nerves
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LONDON (CNN) - Europe's bourses closed lower on Thursday as profit warnings from telecoms equipment maker Marconi and several tech firms shook confidence.
Marconi (MONI), the UK's top maker of telecoms equipment, saw its shares more than halve when they resumed trading after the company suspended them pending a statement. Its stock dropped 54.1 percent.
Marconi investors were shocked as the company announced after Wednesday's market close 4,000 more job cuts, a 50 percent dive in earnings to March 2002 and a 15 percent drop in sales forecasts.
London's FTSE 100 index fell 0.9 percent to 5,549.6 as tech stocks filled the list of top losers, with telecoms equipment tester Spirent (SPT) dropping 9.4 percent.
Marconi's rivals shuddered across the continent after the profit warning. Close French rival Alcatel (PCGE), Europe's fourth-largest telecom equipment maker, lost 11.3 percent in Paris, and communications conglomerate Siemens (FSIE) dropped 4.6 percent in Frankfurt.
The Nordic region's biggest stocks fared no better. Finland's Nokia, the world's biggest maker of cellphones, lost 5.4 percent and cross-boarder rival Ericsson, the Swedish wireless network equipment supplier, dipped 7.8 percent.
Back in London, former tech star Baltimore Technologies (BLM) said it could cut jobs and costs because of worsening market conditions.
Shares in Baltimore, the Ireland-based Internet security company, dropped 32 percent to 17.2 pence after it announced its overhaul. Its stock had reached as high as £13 during the tech boom last year.
The company, which also trades in the U.S., could face being delisted by the tech-laden Nasdaq composite index if its fortunes do not pick up.
It was a similar story in Paris, with the blue chip CAC 40 index falling almost 1 percent to 5,123.83, led by Europe's biggest chipmaker ST Microelectronics (PSTM) which plunged 4.3 percent.
Semiconductor manufacturers were battered after chipmaking equipment company ASML forecast a first-half loss. It dropped 5.2 percent.
Among the region's other chip makers, No. 2 Infineon Technologies (FIFX) lost 2.9 percent in Frankfurt and Philips Electronics, the No. 3 and Europe's biggest consumer electronics company, fell almost 1 percent.
Europe's biggest chip designer, Arm Holdings (ARM), declined 10.3 percent in London.
In Frankfurt, the late trading Xetra Dax was down 0.4 percent at 5,992.87, with Europe's biggest software maker, SAP (FSAP), sliding 2.7 percent.
A bandwagon of European software houses followed its lead. Software company Logica (LOG) and CMG (CMG) slipped more than 9 percent and France's Dassault Systemes (PDSY) dropped almost 2 percent.
Electronic components maker Epcos (FEPC) dropped nearly 6.7 percent, clocking up the biggest percentage loss on benchmark index in Frankfurt.
In Amsterdam, the AEX index was down 0.3 percent. Zurich's SMI was off 0.9 percent, and Milan's MIB30 was down a shade, by 0.1 percent.
The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's shares, lost 0.6 percent, with the information technology sector being the main burden, down 8.2 percent.
In the U.S. on Thursday, warnings from Marconi and ASML sent stocks lower in midday trade. The Nasdaq composite index slipped 1.8 percent to 2,102.23 while the Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.8 percent to 10,484.96.
In the currency markets, euro bounced of an earlier seven month low to 84.22 compared with 83.98 after the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged. 
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