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Bourses remain under water
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November 10, 1998: 12:43 p.m. ET
European markets end the day lower, as investors pocket recent gains
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Bourses drifted lower Tuesday amid an air of profit taking and an absence of positive news.
Poor trading in Asia overnight set the tone for an early morning easing in Europe. A lackluster opening on Wall Street further lowered sentiment. The pick-up in the Dow in late afternoon European trade helped the late-closing FTSE 100 to outpace its European peers.
In London the FTSE 100 ended the day almost unmoved, falling just 1.6 points to 5,432.3.
Shares in retailer Marks & Spencer rose more than 4 percent, as speculation mounted over the group's succession plans.
British Airways stock remained grounded, dropping more than 1 percent.
It was another dismal day for Royal Bank of Scotland. The shares tumbled another 4 percent Tuesday.
Frankfurt's Xetra DAX slid 81 points, 1.7 percent, to close at 4,681.34.
In Paris the CAC 40 eased 1.1 percent, 40.58 points, to 3,544.74.
Zurich's SMI dropped 87 points, 1.3 percent, to 6,654.1.
The chemicals sector hit the ground with a bang, following Monday's shock merger between Swiss giants Ciba Specialty Chemicals and Clariant. Shares in both companies tumbled almost 5 percent Tuesday.
As analysts considered the downbeat prognosis for the sector the gloom moved across to Germany.
Poor third-quarter results from BASF underlined the industry's difficulties. Shares in BASF, Bayer and Hoechst slipped by between 3 percent and 4 percent.
Leading the Frankfurt index down was Daimler-Benz, which toppled almost 5 percent.
Commerzbank was pulled back following Monday's deal with Italian insurer Generali. The German group's shares slipped more than 3 percent, while Generali shares bounced 3 percent in Milan.
Good news was hard to come by in Germany. Metro rose 1.5 marks to close at 101.5 marks after Germany's largest retailer said it would hold a press conference Friday. It wouldn't reveal the purpose of the conference.
Utility Viag rebounded following chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's speech to the Bundestag. Hopes rose that the new government's measures to end nuclear power would be less punitive than previously expected. The shares ran up 3 percent.
A subdued Paris could find little excitement. Rhone-Poulenc suffered with the rest of the European chemicals sector, tumbling 6 percent.
Also in the firing line was defense group Thomson-CSF, which retraced recent gains to end the day down 6 percent at 182 francs.
Financial stocks underperformed the broader market, led down by a 4 percent fall in Paribas stock.
France Telecom rose 3 percent as investors pondered the upcoming sale of a stake in the company by the French government.
In Scandinavia the collapse of a three-way Norwegian merger left Sweden's Handelsbanken in pole spot to snap up Norway's Fokus Bank.
In Oslo Fokus stock rose 8 percent.
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