Frankfurt brought six days of gains to an end with a decline of 43.18 to 6,115.59 on the Xetra Dax index. Mannesmann, a strong market lately as sentiment swung towards the success of the Vodafone AirTouch takeover bid, ran up against profit-taking. The shares came off €8.24 at €231.75.
Retailers were weak. Metro lost €1.14 to €53.50 and Karstadt €1.07 at £34.70. Lufthansa was also dull, shedding 75 cents at €22. Utilities Viag and Veba again moved lower, slipping a further 30 cents at €15.60 and €1.20 to €45.50. MAN was one of the day's stronger performances, bouncing €1.60 at €33.40.
Paris ceded ground after a sharp fall by France Telecom. The telecom heavyweight, which represents 13 per cent of the CAC-40. Milan, Madrid, Lisbon and Vienna were closed for public holidays. Incandescent media shares, however, helped offset the fall. Media shares have been soaring since BSkyB's $1.5 billion bid for Germany's KirchPayTV led market participants to revalue the sector. Canal Plus closed €10 or almost 10 per cent higher at €111. Lagardere matched these gains, rising €4.84 to €53.20.
Seita slid close to 4 per cent after a French court ruled the company had been partly responsible for the death of a smoker.
Amsterdam was again overshadowed by retailing giant Ahold which shed a further €1.39 to €28.60 following a profit warning from a major US competitor. Ahold, which makes around 40 per cent of its sales in the US, tumbled €1.39 to €28.60 for a two-day decline of 8.7 per cent. Volume was again high at 15.1 million shares.
Among financials, ABN-Amro lost 28 cents at €23.50 and ING came off 47 cents at €56.75. The AEX index ended down 1.44 at 610.55.
Zurich remained on a downward path for a third straight session as foreign selling continued unabated in pharmaceutical giants Roche and Novartis. The SMI index finished 69.6 lower at 7,336.5.
Helsinki suffered from choppy trading in Nokia but both the market and the telecoms company managed to push higher on the day. Nokia initially plunged 8.5 per cent on knee-jerk selling after the announcement of a partnership between rival Ericsson and Microsoft. But the company managed to regain its poise to close up €3.35 at €170. The HEX closed up 99.09 at 12,988.72.
News of a joint venture between Ericsson and Microsoft to develop technology for mobile phones and hand-held computers sent Stockholm to a sixth consecutive record close. The general index soared 241.20 or 4.9 per cent to 5,217.01 as Ericsson, the market's most heavily traded share, rose 60 Swedish krona to 549 Swedish krona (€63.85). Shares in the main owners of Ericsson shares were also boosted by the Microsoft news. Investor, which controls 3.2 per cent of Ericsson share capital and 22.2 per cent of the voting shares, closed 9 Swedish krona higher at 122 Swedish krona.
