Technology and telecoms stocks were weak following Cisco's sobering forecast for the communications sector. The IT sector was down almost 3 per cent, with Alcatel off 3.7 per cent, Nokia off 1.6 per cent and Spirent of the UK down 17 per cent on a profit warning.
Deutsche Telekom came under pressure after Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein announced it had placed 10 million shares at #26 each on the market on behalf of clients. Deutsche Telekom shares fell 0.9 per cent to #26.57, off their low for the day of #26.01. Other German tech and telecom stocks fell in sympathy. Infineon lost 3 per cent to #45.80 and SAP fell 1.8 per cent to #167.
Eurodisney, the French theme park operator, rose sharply before falling back to close 2.3 per cent higher at #0.90 as it announced firsthalf sales. There was also speculation about the prospects for a second park on the site outside Paris, ignited by today's opening by Walt Disney Co of a second site in California. Despite the modest level of Eurodisney shares, some analysts have price targets of #120 to #130.
ABN Amro lost 1.3 per cent to #21.33 as the Dutch bank reported lower first-quarter results and said it faced a challenge to equal the record profits of 2000.
Franco-German life sciences group Aventis provided one ray of sunshine with first-quarter net profits that easily beat forecasts thanks to depleted inventories and strong US drug demand. The figures sparked a number of broker upgrades for the stock which put 2.6 per cent to #87.
The upbeat mood spilled over to its fellow drugs group Sanofi- Synthelabo, which put on 2.1 per cent to #68.50.
Roche, however, was out of favour as the market continued to digest news that it had fired its finance chief, one day after arch rival Novartis took a 20 per cent stake in its voting shares. The certificates dipped 0.2 per cent to SFr136 while the voting bearer shares lost 0.9 per cent to SFr158.
