|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
European enthusiasm crumbles
LONDON, England (CNN) -- European markets ended lower on Tuesday after a rally by technology stocks eased as fears of war resurfaced and Wall Street got off to a weak start following a holiday weekend. London's FTSE 100 was down 1.1 percent to 3,736.7 and the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris fell 0.9 percent to 2,992.39, while Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax was down 1 percent to 2,866.17 in late trading (the German market was set to close at 1900 GMT). The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was down 1 percent. "It's a tough, difficult environment in which to make investment decisions at the moment, so people aren't making any decisions and they're simply trading around their core portfolios,'' Nigel Cobby, managing director of European Equities at JP Morgan, told Reuters. "What this market needs is an early resolution to the Iraq situation, which it is probably not going to get, and it needs a couple of major corporations to stand up and say things are getting better.'' European markets were supported for much of the session by resurgent telecom stocks. The rally was led by Alcatel (PCGE), Europe's biggest telecom equipment maker, which gained 4.6 percent to 6.43 euros in Paris after Credit Suisse First Boston said it was more bullish about the company. CSFB raised its recommendation to "outperform" from "neutral" and its target price to 8.7 euros from 6.8 euros. The investment bank also raised its rating on the rest of the European telecom equipment sector to "overweight." "The big thing that has happened in the telecoms sector is that debt has started to be attacked and cut at all the telecoms majors and they're getting their refinancing programmes in order,'' Roger Hornett, head of Gilissen Securities, told Reuters. Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, was up 1.6 percent to 14.24 euros in late trading, while Sweden's Ericsson, the biggest supplier of equipment to power mobile phone communications, fell 1.3 percent to 7.50 euros after notching up big gains earlier in the session. Deutsche Telekom (FDTE), Europe's biggest telecom operator, was up 2.3 percent to 13.16 euros in late Frankfurt trading after ABN Amro told clients to "hold" the stock rather than "sell." France Telecom (PFTE) rose 0.8 percent to 22.44 euros, while its mobile unit Orange (PORA) gained 2.3 percent to 7.74 euros. Cable & Wireless (CW), the ailing UK telecom operator, climbed 3.6 percent to 64 pence after chief executive Graham Wallace said he would leave the group. (Full story) BT Group (BT) rose 1.6 percent to 196.15 pence. However, the European tech sector continued to be hurt by concerns about profits. Infineon Technologies (FIFX), Europe's second-largest chipmaker, was down 5.6 percent to 7.29 euros in late Frankfurt trading. On Monday, it said its first quarter loss narrowed but that it expected tough conditions through the first half of 2003. Cap Gemini (PCAP), Europe's biggest computer services company, slid 4.4 percent to 23.23 euros in Paris. Meanwhile, life insurers were led lower by Britain's biggest insurer Aviva (AV), which fell 4.4 percent to 409 pence. On Tuesday, it said new business sales for life and pension products for 2002 rose 2 percent to £2.37 billion ($3.8 billion), but added that it expected market conditions to remain difficult. (Full story) In the financial sector, Switzerland's second-biggest bank Credit Suisse Group was up 1.9 percent to 32.10 Swiss francs after the management put all the bad news into 2002 results to ensure a clean slate for this year. (Full story) The AEX index in Amsterdam fell 1.7 percent and Milan's MIB30 index lost 1.5 percent, while the SMI in Zurich slid 0.6 percent. In the U.S. on Tuesday, Wall Street got off to a weak start following the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday as global political concerns overshadowed a round of encouraging earnings reports from blue chip companies. At 1500 GMT, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 15.77 points to 8570.63 and the Nasdaq composite was unchanged at 1376.19. The S&P 500 index slipped 1.10 points to 900.68.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
