NEW YORK (Reuters) -
Insurers and tech stocks led European shares lower in lackluster trade on Monday as investors booked profits after key indices were pushed to 2003 highs last week on hopes of a U.S.-led economic recovery.
Around Europe, France's CAC-40 fell 1.1 percent at 3,291.36, while Germany's DAX was down 1.3 percent at 3,504.45.
London's FTSE 100 is closed on Monday for a public holiday.
Tech bellwethers such as mobile phone heavyweight Nokia, down 1.7 percent, and Siemens, down 2.2 percent, led the DJ Stoxx technology index off Friday's eight-and-a-half month high.
Among the few pieces of corporate news, Deutsche Telekom said it would offer  1 billion to buy out the remaining 51 percent stake of Poland's largest mobile operator, PTC. Deutsche Telekom shares were down 1.5 percent.
Europe's biggest automaker, Volkswagen, was down 1.7 percent after it unveiled the latest version of its best-selling Golf. VW said it expected to sell more than 600,000 of the new vehicles in 2004.
Anti-virus firms healthy
Among leading European gainers, makers of anti-virus software and firewalls to protect computers from unauthorized attacks rose sharply as the fast-spreading Sobig.F e-mail virus slowed on Sunday.
In Helsinki, shares in Finnish Internet-based data security firm SSH Communications Security soared 20 percent.
Elsewhere, debt-ridden Norwegian fish farmer Pan Fish, the world's number two salmon producer, jumped eight percent after signing a deal to sell off several units.
In Spain, satellite pay-television company Sogecable was up 2.2 percent after resolving a standoff with medium-sized Spanish football clubs over broadcasting rights.
-- from staff and wire reports
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