|
Europe closes in the red
|
 |
December 21, 2000: 12:17 p.m. ET
Telecom, tech shares lead declines as U.S. warnings faze Europeans
|
LONDON (CNNfn) - European markets closed in the red Thursday as telecom and technology stocks retreated, following warnings from U.S. counterparts AT&T and Lucent Technologies.
In a see-saw session, London's FTSE 100 index closed down 66.8 points, or 1.1 percent, at 6,109.9. In Frankfurt the electronically traded Xetra Dax  shed 48.05 points or 0.77 percent to end at 6,200.7, while the blue-chip CAC 40 index in Paris dropped 25.58 points or 0.4 percent to 5,740.72.
In other markets, the AEX index in Amsterdam dropped 0.2 percent, Zurich's SMI closed down 0.6 percent and the MIB 30 in Milan fell 0.3 percent. The Ibex index, Madrid's stock market benchmark, was Europe's exception, climbing 1.2 percent.
 click here for the biggest movers on the ftse 100 in London
 click here for the biggest movers on the dax 30 in Frankfurt
 click here for the biggest movers on the cac 40 in Paris
The broader FTSE Eurotop 300 index, a basket of the region's biggest stocks, dropped 0.94 percent to 1505.62, with its computer sector losing 3.1 percent and the telecom sub-index ending 2.5 percent down.
In the United States Thursday morning, stocks edged higher as investors searched for a market bottom following a week of heavy losses. Just before 11:05 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq composite index rose 11.92 points to 2,343.17 and the Dow Jones industrial average gained 49.68 to 10,369.74.
On the currency markets, the euro rose to 91.21 U.S. cents from 90.89 cents in New York late Wednesday as the allure of the slowing U.S. economy waned. The European currency earlier climbed as high as 91.70, a four-month high.
click here for the biggest movers on the techMARK 100 in London
click here for the biggest movers on the Neuer Market in Frankfurt
click here for the biggest movers on the Nouveau Marché in Paris
Europe's biggest telecommunication companies led shares across the region lower. British Telecommunications (BT-A) closed down 5.1 percent at 590 pence in the wake of the previous day's profit alert and dividend cut by its joint venture partner AT&T (T: Research, Estimates). The U.K. company's shares earlier touched a two-and-a-half year low of 584p.
Among other phone stocks, Vodafone Group (VOD) slid 4.5 percent and Germany's Deutsche Telekom (FDTE) tumbled 5 percent to  33.24, after earlier falling below 33. Its $46 billion agreement to buy U.S. cell-phone operator VoiceStream Wireless (VSTR: Research, Estimates)  included a clause that permits VoiceStream to renegotiate the terms if Telekom's stock price averages less than 33 in seven of the 15 days before completion of the purchase. The takeover is expected to complete in the first half of 2001.
The microchip and high-tech industries provided most of the day's biggest tumbles. Autonomy (AU-), an Anglo-American maker of data-search software, dived 8.9 percent on its fourth trading day since joining the FTSE 100 index. South African-based software house Dimension Data (DDT) dropped 6.7 percent, French consumer electronics maker Thomson Multimedia (PMMT) fell 2.2 percent and Germany's SAP (FSAP), the biggest software developer in Europe, lost 2.5 percent.
Chipmaker Infineon Technologies (FIFX) shed 3.6 percent in Frankfurt, while its French rival STMicroelectronics (PSTM) lost 1.3 percent. Mobile-phone handset maker Nokia lost 5.4 percent.
Media and utility conglomerate Vivendi Universal (PEX) fell 3.3 percent in Paris. The chairman of the company's telecom
unit Cegetel said it had the financial means to fund a bid for a French third-generation mobile-phone licence bid and the associated
network buildout costs, but said the price the government was
asking was too high.
Declines weren't restricted to "new-economy" issues. In Frankfurt, steel maker Thyssen Krupp (FTHY) fell 2.6 percent and retailer Karstadt Quelle (FKAR) shed 2.4 percent.
-- from staff and wire reports 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
