European Midday Update: Major Bourses Struggle Against U.S. Influence
LONDON -- The die was cast in the U.S.
European markets fell from the outset and looked unlikely to crawl out of the mire unless Wall Street dragged them out, kicking and screaming.
The
FTSE 100
was down 22.5 points to 6328.3, and the
Techmark
index plunged 175.7 points to 3718.1.
There was the occasional bright spot, with
British Telecom
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head and shoulders above the rest as the company announced a comprehensive restructuring along the lines of what
Telefonica
(TEF) - Get Free Report
and
Deutsche Telekom
(DT) - Get Free Report
have done. BT is set to create four high-growth businesses operating globally and is putting in place a more aggressive European expansion plan. BT's shares responded to the news with a gain of 30p to
11.19.
Vodafone AirTouch
(VOD) - Get Free Report
moved below 300 before steadying to stand 10p lower at 302.5 despite Wednesday's news that the
European Commission
has approved the takeover of
Mannesmann
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.
Oils also resisted the overall trend, with
BP Amoco
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adding 16p to 554 as brent one-month crude recovered to US$23.10 a barrel. This was in response to reports that
OPEC
may cut production if the price falls below US$22 a barrel. Also, BP Amoco's acquisition of
Atlantic Richfield
(ARC) - Get Free Report
has been given conditional approval by the
Federal Trade Commission
.
Shell
(SC) - Get Free Report
was 8p firmer at 503, with
Credit Lyonnais
rating the shares a buy.
Technology shares all over Europe suffered. In London,
Baltimore Technologies
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fell 425p to
65.60,
BATM Advanced Communications
was down 445p to
43.00,
Psion
was 444p lower to
33.25, and
ARM Holdings
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slid 144p to
30.90 before steadying to stand 59p lower at
31.75.
On the Continent,
Nokia
(NOK) - Get Free Report
fell 2.30 euros to 51.70,
Alcatel
dropped 10.00 euros to 220.20,
France Telecom
(FTE)
dipped 8.00 euros to 160.00,
Siemens
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inched 1.05 euros lower to 140.50 and
Vivendi
fell 2.20 euros to 109.80.
In Frankfurt,
Hypovereinsbank
and
Commerzbank
(CRZBY)
managed to buck the trend as speculation continued about whether these two banks will be the next targets following the failure of the merger between
Dresdner Bank
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and
Deutsche Bank
(DTBKY)
. Hypo was up 0.04 euro to 68.04 and Commerzbank was up 0.78 euro to 41.27.
Frankfurt's
Xetra Dax
was down 51.68 points to 7391.39, and in Paris, the
CAC 40
was down 9.07 points to 6229.63.
