NEW YORK (CNNmoney) - Europe's major indexes closed with gains after a roller-coaster ride Wednesday -- tech and telecom stocks soaring after France cut the prices of its UMTS mobile licenses, and reports of more cases of exposure to the dangerous bacterium anthrax pulled U.S. equity markets lower.
London's FTSE 100 closed up 2.4 percent at 5,203.4, gaining 120.8 points. The CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris closed up 2.39 percent at 4,411.51, closing for the first time above levels seen on the eve of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Frankfurt's electronically-traded Xetra Dax edged up 0.43 percent to 4,646.26.
Traders said investors were prepared to brush aside fresh worries about anthrax and jitters about reprisals against U.S.-led attacks in Afghanistan to latch on to the recent rally, but added the market could be losing momentum.
"It's one step back and two steps forward. It's weight of money; people don't want to get left out of this rally," said Lawrence Peterman, head of research at Eden Group. "The market is so fragile that if something does happen it can only go one way -- down," he added.
Quarterly earnings from IBM (IBM: up $1.69 to $103.54, Research, Estimates) and Intel (INTC: up $0.24 to $25.20, Research, Estimates), which met or beat analysts' forecasts, gave some encouragement to investors and UK software firm Sage (SGE) led a rally among UK technology shares, jumping nine percent.
The telecom sector was boosted by news that the French government had sweetened its third-generation mobile license terms to help struggling operators and attract new bidders.
Mobile telecom firm Vodafone (VOD) gained 4.4 percent while British Telecom (BT) climbed 6.2 percent.
Telecom equipment maker Alcatel (PCGE) led blue chip gainers for most of the session in France, leaping 12.67 percent and bringing to around 45 percent its gains so far in October.
France Telecom (PFTE), Orange (PORA), and Vivendi Universal (PEX) gained 2.79 percent, 2.65 percent and 2.88 percent respectively.
Bouygues (PEN) , which dropped out of the first 3G round but said Tuesday it now will examine bidding in a second French 3G round. The stock rose 2.79 percent, extending a bounce of 10 percent Tuesday.
Other tech heavyweights Infineon, Siemens and Epcos also moved higher.
Infineon (FIFX) topped the DAX gainers' list, rising 4.7 percent to  17.40 on the heels of earnings results from IBM and Intel.
Electronics group Siemens (FSIE) rose 3.8 percent, components maker Epcos gained 2.0 percent, while software firm SAP jumped 2.8 percent.
But shares in ThyssenKrupp dropped 6.4 percent to 12.00 on concerns that a recovery in steel prices would be delayed until the second quarter of 2002.
Chemicals group Bayer was another loser, slipping 0.8 percent to 34.65 after saying its increased production of antibiotic Cipro -- which treats anthrax -- will not make up for lost earnings this year from anti-cholesterol drug Baycol.
In the U.S. markets, the Dow and the Nasdaq fell in afternoon trading as mounting anthrax scares and mixed testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan cut into investor optimism following positive results from Intel and IBM.
At 1:42 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 94.66 points to 9,289.57. The Nassdaq composite index was down 43.07 to 1,679 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 slipped 12.34 to 1,085.20. 
--from staff and wire reports
|
