European Closing Update: Shares Sell Off Badly
The heavy selling on Wall Street led European bourses deep into the red today.
In London, the
FTSE
tested the pain barrier, with a fall of 188.6 points, or 3%, to 6,184.8, while the technology benchmark, the
Techmark
, tumbled 118.0, or 3%, to 3,707.3.
Tech stocks saw some of the fiercest selling.
Bookham Technology
dived 587p, or 16.7%, to
29.13 ($18.70), while
Psion
dropped 457p to
40.04.
Baltimore Technologies
derived little inspiration from its latest Aussie deal and shed 311p to
66.55, and
Affinity Internet
tumbled 112p to
16.25.
Pearson
led the media sector lower with a loss of 175p to
21.59, followed closely by
Reuters
(RTRSY)
, down 55p to ¿11.45.
Telecom stocks completed the trio of misery, with sentiment undermined by yesterday's
AT&T
(T) - Get Report
profit-warning.
Vodafone Airtouch
(VOD) - Get Report
sank 18.5p to 270, and
British Telecom
(BTY)
shed 50p to ¿11.22.
Colt Telecom
tumbled 269p to
26.60.
Anything that ended on a blue note today had to be something special, and
BP Amoco
(BPA)
managed to retain a penny gain at 551, after an upgrading by
Goldman Sachs
. The same broking house was less kind to the rest of the sector, with
Royal Dutch
(RD)
losing 23p to 584.
British Aerospace
fell 12p to 395, as analysts projected a dim view of the company's presentation of its
Marconi Electronic Systems
tie-up.
AstraZeneca
(AZN) - Get Report
produced better than expected first quarter figures, but market sentiment pushed the price down 69p to
26.03.
Blue Circle
finished 5.5p lower at 423 as the
Lafarge
bid deadline came and went without anyone the wiser.
Fairey Group
provided a ray of sunshine, with a gain of 48p at 487 on the proposed acquisition of
Spectris
and a proposed 1-for-6 rights issue at 355p per share, something of a rarity in this market when many companies are busy buying back shares, rather than issuing them.
Europe's other bourses finished Wednesday in negative territory, with the
Xetra Dax
in Frankfurt finishing down 178.99, or 2.4%, at 7376.93 and the
CAC 40
in Paris ending 126.76 lower, or 1.9%, at 6435.65. The Neuer Markt's
Nemax All-Share
index closed down 144.64, or 2.2%, at 6562.69.
German technology stocks ended lower as investors decided to favor old economy issues.
Siemens
(SMWAY)
closed down 5.72 euros, or 3.4%, at 163.50 ($148.52), software maker
SAP
(SAP) - Get Report
fell 29.00 euros, or 4.4%, to 639.00 and the Neuer Markt listed
T-Online
ended down 2.25 euros, or 4.7%, at 45.75.
Industrial concern
Linde
ended up 0.82 euros, or 1.9%, and carmaker
Volkswagen
(VLKAY)
rose 1.20 euros, or 2.8%, to 43.60.
Deutsche Telekom
(DT) - Get Report
fell 5.04 euros, or 6.7%, to 69.96 and
France Telecom
(FTE)
ended down 6.50 euros lower, or 3.7%, at 171.50, but
Telefonica
(TEF) - Get Report
closed up 0.04 euros, or 0.2%, at 26.78.
