European Midday Update: Europe Down on Nasdaq Fall

LONDON -- Political uncertainty continues to hang like a cloud over Europe's equity markets, and the technology sector took a predictable beating following the Nasdaq Composite Index's slump on Friday.

By midday, the FTSE 100 was down 94 points to 6306 and the Techmark 100 was down 107 points to 3115. On the Continent, the CAC-40 in Paris was down 95 points to 6053 and the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt was down 89 points to 6763.

Telecom-related stocks bore the brunt of the selling. Alcatel(ALA) was down 4.30 euros to 63.70 ($54.78) and Nokia(NOK) was down 1.52 euros at 42.58.

Optical component maker Bookham Technology(BKHM) once again heads the list of the FTSE 100's biggest losers. Shares hit another effective all-time low of 13.25 ($18.95), before recovering a tad to stand 12.4% lower at 13.67. U.K. telecom equipment maker Marconi (MONI) fell more than 5%, down 48p to 762.

Internet security software maker Baltimore Technologies(BALT) also found itself in the red, despite announcing the launch of a new product called Baltimore SelectAccessTM. The company describes this as the "next generation in policy-driven access and authorization management software," which will allow "businesses to easily provide secure user access to online information and services." At the height of tech euphoria earlier this year, this would have probably added a few hundred million to the company's market cap. But today the market was unimpressed and marked Baltimore's shares down 3.7% to 443p.

Chip designer ARM Holdings (ARMHY) did its best to steady the index. The shares rose to a session high of 675p before easing back to stand 15p lower at 635.

Vodafone(VOD) eased 4.5p to 240.5, ahead of its fiscal half-year results due Tuesday. Press reports that British Telecom(BTY) is considering suing Vodafone over the mobile operator's involvement in French multiaccess portal Vizzavi hasn't helped. News that the Swiss third-generation auction has been postponed because two of the five bidders have agreed to merge should be positive, but on a day like today it has had little impact. British Telecom fell to a session low of 685p, before recovering to stand up 1p at 701.

Finally, Cable & Wireless(CWP) slipped 18p to 810 even after J.P. Morgan initiated coverage with a buy rating. The bank says, "Cable & Wireless has been radically reshaped in the past 18 months. In doing so, it has lost much of the 'investment trust' aspects of the old Cable & Wireless and has begun to look more like a single company based around a coherent strategy."

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