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Europe yields early gains
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November 6, 1998: 1:37 p.m. ET
Weekend and lazy Wall Street reverse European markets' buoyant opening
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LONDON (CNNfn) - European stock markets gave up their earlier gains to close almost unchanged after Wall Street opened in a sluggish mood.
In London, the FTSE 100 closed just 11.2 points higher at 5,491, a rise of just 0.2 percent.
In Frankfurt, the Xetra DAX closed up a fraction of a percent at 4,809.73.
In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.21 percent, or 7.55 points, to close the week at 3,588.63.
In Zurich, the SMI gained 1.46 percent to close 96 points up at 6,653.5.
In London, the expectation of further interest rate cuts failed to buoy sentiment. The rise in shares of mortgage lender Halifax and insurer Prudential on the back of merger rumors was reversed by closing time. Halifax finished a fraction of a percent lower and Prudential was up just under 1 percent.
Insurer Standard Life & Provincial lost 7 percent. Royal Bank of Scotland gained almost 4 percent at 857 pence.
Engineers suffered as Cookson lost 10 percent following a gloomy trading statement and LucasVarity shareholders moved to vote on the transfer of the stock to New York.
Another casualty was electronics giant GEC, which lost more than 4 percent to close at 460 pence.
Brewer Scottish & Newcastle suffered a 2.6 percent fall as brokerage Panmure Gordon downgraded the stock to "sell".
Among the risers were Unilever, which posted better-than-expected results lifting it over 3 percent to 610.5 pence, and media group WPP, which gained over 6 percent to 339.
The Xetra DAX reached a seven-week high in afternoon trading of 4,830.72, lifted by confidence the dollar will hold strong to the benefit of its export-oriented blue-chip stocks. However, the weaker opening on the Dow pulled the DAX back.
Financial stocks Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank gained 2 percent and almost 6 percent respectively amid rumors Goldman Sachs had upgraded the former. HypoVereinsbank was the strongest of the banks, gaining almost 8 percent following news an internal dispute over provisions for real estate had been settled.
Early gains by auto groups Volkswagen and Daimler-Benz on the back of Volkswagen's forecast of a record 1999 were later eroded to leave the stocks up a fraction of a percent.
Paris's CAC 40 lost its earlier gains as the weekend drew near and investors switched back into France Telecom.
Advertising group Publicis gained 4 percent after the shares returned from suspension following news it is merging with subsidiary Publicis Communication.
Pharmaceuticals group Sanofi added another 6.5 percent on the back of Thursday's statement that it would achieve a 10 percent increase in annual profit. 
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