European Closing Update: Markets Follow Wall Street Lower
LONDON -- European tech stocks got mauled today. In London, the FTSE 100 ended with a loss of 9.9 points, or 0.2%, at 6,035.5, but the Techmark was truly slammed by the nightmare on Wall Street and the index slid a further 4.1% to 2,925.6, a loss of 125.6 points.
The one bright note was that some safe-haven stocks managed to gather a few buyers away from the tech stocks, but it was not enough to keep the blue-chip index in the plus column.
Among the gainers were financial stocks such as
Barclays
(BCS) - Get Report
up 48p, or 3.1%, at
16.22 ($24.00),
Lloyds TSB
up 11.5p, or 1.8%, to 656 and takeover favorite
Abbey National
up 29p, or 3.7%, to 814.
Media stocks featured as one the disaster sectors of the day.
Pearson
fell 85p, or 4.5%, to
17.99,
Reuters
(RTRSY)
shed 56p, or 5.5%, to 959, and
BSkyB
(BSY)
slumped 73p, or 6.9%, to 980.
In tech stocks, last week's high flyer
Bookham Technology
(BKHM)
became this week's crash lander with a loss of 640p, or 18.0% to
29.25, while
BATM Advanced Communications
slid 562p, or 15.4% to
30.87.
Freeserve
(FREE)
, firmer initially on bid speculation from cable company
NTL
(NTLI)
, ran back in the absence of any developments to close 14p lower, or 3.6%, at 374.
Europe's other bourses ended lower. The
Xetra Dax
in Frankfurt closed down 76.07, or 1.1%, at 6912.96 and the
CAC 40
in Paris ended 101.88 lower, or 1.6%, at 6094.17. The Neuer Markt's tech-heavy
Nemax 50
index finished down a whopping 475.43, or 7.3%, at 6014.29.
German technology shares apparently had no choice but to follow the Nasdaq lower, with
Epcos
(EPC) - Get Report
dropping 10.25 euros, or 7.5%, to 126.75 ($113.58), ISP
T-Online
off 1.60 euros, or 4.3%, at 35.50 and software maker
SAP
(SAP) - Get Report
down 15.40 euros, or 2.8%, at 534.60.
Automakers in Frankfurt were able to buck the downward trend, with
DaimlerChrysler
(DCX)
up 0.61 euros, or 1%, to 60.91 and
Volkswagen
(VLKAY)
0.38 euros higher, or 0.9%, at 44.68.
Deutsche Telekom
(DT) - Get Report
ended up 0.35 euros, or 0.6%, at 56.73, after the government said it would float less of its shares than previously thought this summer.
Telefonica
(TEF) - Get Report
fell 1.11 euros, or 5.1%, to 20.56 and
France Telecom
(FTE)
ended down 5.30 euros, or 3.9%, at 132.50.
