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Europe ends lower
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December 3, 2001: 12:11 p.m. ET
Enron bankruptcy hurts banking stocks, IT declines
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LONDON (CNN) - Europe's major bourses ended lower on Monday, led by banking stocks amid concerns for their exposure to crisis-hit U.S. energy trader Enron.
Enron (ENE: up $0.13 to $0.39, Research, Estimates) filed for bankruptcy protection and a related $10 billion breach of contract suit against former merger partner Dynegy on Sunday.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBOS), the UK's third-largest bank, was down 2.2 percent after the Sunday Telegraph said it was exposed to Enron to the tune of £600 million ($856 million), with Barclays (BARC) on about half that. Barclays, Britain's No. 2 bank by assets, slipped 2.7 percent.
London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.5 percent to 5,175.4 and the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris fell 0.3 percent to 4,463.84, while Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax dipped 0.7 percent to 4,953.35.
The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, dropped 0.4 percent, with IT and insurance sectors in negative territory.
Banking restrictions in Argentina, where Spanish banks are heavily involved, also dealt a blow to European stocks. Spain's Bank Santander Central Hispano (BSCH) was a heavy loser in the sector, dropping 1.5 percent, while rival Banco Bilbao Vizcava (BBVA) was down 1 percent. BSCH and BBVA both have less than $50 million exposure to Enron.
Spain's Telefonica, with about half of its fixed-line business and around a third of its mobile phone earnings sourced in Latin America, was down 2.6 percent.
British engineering group Ivensys was up 4.8 percent after the Financial Times reported it is trying to sell off businesses to cut its hefty debt.
The world's No. 2 sportswear and equipment maker Adidas Salomon was up 3.7 percent after Morgan Stanley said it had increased its price target on the German company.
Deutsche Telekom, Europe's biggest phone company by sales, slid 2.1 percent amid sector weakness.
Nordic mobile telephony group Ericsson was down 2.5 percent. French telecoms equipment maker Alcatel fell 3 percent and German giant Siemens (FSIE) dropped 1.4 percent.
STMicroelectronics, which makes chips for mobile phones, DVD and MP3 players, fell 1.7 percent, Italy's Finmeccanica fell 2.3 percent, Dutch chip equipment manufacturer ASML was 3.1 percent lower, while Germany's Infineon gained 1.2 percent.
Philips Electronics, Europe's biggest consumer electronics company and third-largest chipmaker, dropped 1 percent. ARM Holdings (ARM), Europe's biggest chip designer, fell 2.5 percent in London after its chief executive said he expected fourth quarter royalty revenue, which makes up one fifth of sales, to be flat.
French carmaker Renault was down 3.7 percent after Moody's Investors Service changed its outlook to stable from positive.
In Amsterdam, the AEX index fell 0.6 percent, Milan's MIB30 index edged was down 1.8 percent, and the SMI in Zurich edged up 0.03 percent.
U.S. stocks retreated at midday on Monday as accelerated violence in the Middle East and the fallout from Enron's bankruptcy filing overshadowed a positive report from the manufacturing sector.
The Nasdaq composite index fell 18.02 points to 1,912.56 while the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 95.7 points to 9,755.9. 
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