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Europe on the slide
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September 3, 2001: 12:20 p.m. ET
Bourses fall in unison as investors fail to find recovery signs, warily eye Asia
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LONDON (CNN) - Europe's main markets all staggered lowered Monday, with Germany's Xetra Dax hitting a two-year low, as tech and telecom stocks fell.
Adding to European investors' gloom was a poor showing on Asian markets, where declines for tech shares such as Sony and Hitachi earlier pulled the battered Nikkei index down to close at a fresh 17-year low.
In Frankfurt, the electronically-traded Xetra Dax was down 1.7 percent at 5,098.31 in late trading. London's FTSE 100 index closed with a loss of 0.6 percent at 5,312.1, while the blue-chip CAC 40 index in Paris fell 1.3 percent to end at 4,629.80.
U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
The Dax has fallen about 21 percent since the beginning of the year, with its market capitalization shrinking by about  150 billion ($136.1 billion) since the end of June, Reuters reported.
Europe's largest software company, SAP (FSAP), led the losers on the index on Monday, slipping 6.3 percent amid speculation it was poised to issue a profit warning.
Deutsche Telekom (FDTE) dropped 2.3 percent after the end of a share "lock-up" period, during which some shareholders had agreed to restrict their sales of the company's stock, and investors braced for a potential flood of millions of the company's shares onto the market.
Its U.K. counterpart British Telecommunications (BT-A) fell 1.4 percent in London, amid media reports that its debt level could be higher than expected after the planned demerger of its mobile-phone unit in November.
And in Paris, France Telecom [PAR:PFTE} slid 4.5 percent amid fears it will be ousted from the Dow Jones Stoxx 50, when the index, a widely used measure of European stock markets' performance, undergoes a revision later on Monday.
Engineering and communications company Siemens (FSIE) dropped 2.8 percent in Frankfurt, and Europe's largest electronic components maker, Epcos (FEPC), lost 2.2 percent. The continent's second-largest chipmaker, Infineon Technologies (FIFX) fell 1 percent.
Automakers under pressure
DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen went into reverse as investors took an increasingly pessimistic view of the impact of slowing economies on vehicle sales. DaimlerChrysler (DCX) dropped 2.9 percent and VW [FSEFVOW] was down 2.3 percent.
In London, mining company Anglo American (AAL) shed 4 percent, the weakest stock on the FTSE 100, ahead of a report later this week that analysts are expecting to reveal a drop in first-half profit. Factory controls maker Invensys (ISYS) closed down 3.9 percent.
In the media sector, concern about a continued decline in advertising income put pressure on Granada (GAA), one of Britain's biggest TV broadcasters and program makers, which fell 2.5 percent, while fellow TV broadcaster Carlton Communications (CCM) lost 2.9 percent.
Business telecommunications provider Colt Telecom Group (CTM) staged a sparkling recovery from sharp losses last week. Its shares rocketed 21.2 percent amid speculation it might become a bid target. Colt dismissed talk that it might be taken over, and said it had bought back £115 million (about $145 million) of its bonds in a cash outlay of £68 million, cutting the company's net debt by £47 million.
In Paris, automaker Renault (PRNO) was the CAC 40's worst performer, diving 5.2 percent amid concerns its Japanese partner, Nissan Motor, will suffer from a weak U.S. car market and a stronger yen.
Consumer electronics firm Thomson Multimedia (PTMM) lost 4.7 percent, and Vivendi Universal (PEX), Europe's biggest listed media company, was caught up in the gloom regarding dwindling ad revenues, and sank 3.7 percent.
Dutch telecom company KPN dropped 5.1 percent, at one time sliding to a new all-time low in Amsterdam, after it reported a large loss for the second quarter and warned of a full-year loss. The financially stretched company on Friday abandoned talks on a merger with Belgium's Belgacom that could have provided a path out of its debt difficulties.
The AEX index in Amsterdam slid 1.3 percent and the SMI in Zurich was down 1.9 percent, while Milan's MIB30 ended down 1.1 percent.
Friday had provided a mild rally for U.S. markets after a four-day losing streak, culminating in the Dow Jones industrial average closing below 10,000 Thursday for the first time in nearly five months.
The Dow gained 30.17 points to close at 9,949.75, but fell 4.5 percent in the week as a whole, and ended the month of August with a 5.4 percent decline from the end of July.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 13.75 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,804.43, narrowing its weekly loss to 5.8 percent and its monthly decline to 11 percent. 
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