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Bourses head mildly lower
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March 15, 1999: 6:42 a.m. ET
Investors snub European equities as main markets turn negative
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Europe's major markets were all lower by mid-morning Monday, as investors found little to cheer following strong performances in London and Frankfurt last week. The Dow's inability to break the 10,000 mark also knocked confidence.
The FTSE 100 was down over 1 percent, after hitting record highs last week. London's blue chips were almost 74 points lower at 6,208.3.
Trading in Germany's market, which rallied in the wake of Lafontaine's departure, was choppy. The electronically-traded Xetra Dax see-sawed between the black and the red. Economic data showing that manufacturing orders posted a rise for the first time in six months did nothing to prevent the market from slipping into negative territory. The index was down 8 points at 5,023.01 by mid-morning.
The French and Swiss markets also slipped into the red after early gains. The CAC 40 in Paris was 0.66 percent lower at 4,147.61, while the SMI was slightly down, 0.14 percent lower at 7,240.9.
In London, Cable & Wireless (CW.) was the biggest loser. The shares were off 8.73 percent at 757 pence, after it emerged that German conglomerate Veba (FVEB) had sold its 10.2 percent stake in the U.K. telecom giant at a significant discount to the market price. Veba did not name the buyer and Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa has already denied it was involved. Rival British Telecom (BT.A) was over 4 percent lower at 1,038 pence.
In Frankfurt, Veba's shares were barely changed, down 0.06 euros lower at 52.44. Germany's largest telecom company was also suffering Monday, after a Hamburg court's ruling barring Deutsche Telekom (FDTE) from launching its T-Online Internet service provider for three cents a minute unless it publicly divulges the breakdown costs for both the phone call and the service. The ruling was in response to a complaint by AOL Europe that Deutsche was using its dominant industry position to undercut rivals. Telekom's shares were almost 2 percent lower at 38 euros.
On the M&A front, the supervisory board of German pharmaceutical giant Hoechst (FHOE) is poised to meet this week amid questions as to whether, the company's major shareholder, Kuwait Petroleum Corp., will approve the company's planned merger with French rival Rhône-Poulenc (PRPP).
Hoechst shares were down 0.42 euros at 42.35, while Rhône-Poulenc was almost 1 percent lower at 40.77 euros in Paris.
French tire maker Michelin (PML) was up 0.12 euros at 40.35. The group is expected to report its 1998 results Monday. Electronics and defense group Thomson-CSF (PHO) and conglomerate Lagardere (MMB) were both stronger after weak performances Friday. Lagardere surged over 3 percent to 33.13 euros, while Thomson pared most of its early gains, up just 0.82 percent at 28.25 euros.
Investors are likely to remain focused on banking stocks this week, after France's BNP (PBNP) launched surprise twin takeover bids for Paribas (PPM) and Société Générale (PGLE), which were in the process of merging themselves. SocGen and Paribas launched a joint attack Monday, accusing BNP of merely trying to scupper their own plans, adding that a three-way link-up created "negligible added value". BNP shares were 1.81 percent lower at 78.55 euros, while SocGen was down 1.22 percent at 161.7. Paribas, in contrast, was slightly up 0.20 euros higher at 100.40.
French carmaker Renault (PRNO) was also in vogue, following reports that it was nearing the end of talks with Nissan Motor to acquire a 33 percent stake in the Japanese company. Sources told CNN a statement from Renault confirming the deal is likely this week. The stock eased somewhat from its early highs but traded up to 2.4 percent higher, putting on 0.32 euros to 36.15.
--From staff and wire reports
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