Pharmaceuticals giant Roche took a tumble in Zurich after the group warned that second-quarter sales growth would be lower than most expectations while turnover in its anti-obesity drug Xenical had been slower than expected.
The warning, in early morning phone calls to favoured analysts, took the market by surprise. Roche certificates fell 830 Swiss francs (€535) or 5 per cent to SFr15,830, 18.2 per cent below their late March high for the year and their lowest level since November 1998.
The shares have been under almost daily pressure since June 6th when Credit Suisse First Boston cut its rating on Roche because of deteriorating fundamentals.
The SMI index finished 95.8 lower at 7,664.4.
Frankfurt drifted lower in thin holiday-hit volumes as technology stocks lost ground and retailer Karstadt Quelle ran into heavy selling for the third day running.
Techs tracked the soft opening for the Nasdaq and Epcos shed €7.95 at €125.95. SAP lost €10 at €632 and Siemens €1.93 at €158.22. DAX newcomer Infineon was a rare firm feature, gaining €1.40 at €89.40.
The Xetra DAX index was off 59.87 at 5,834.73 at 5.30 p.m. German time.
Paris was flat all day in spite of a majority of the blue-chip stocks falling, as rises in Vivendi and Canal Plus helped support the index. The CAC-40 lost just 15.88 to 6,474.88.
The two media companies recouped some of their recent losses as investors pondered further on the merger with Seagram. Traders said there was bargain hunting following the previous declines. Vivendi rose 3.75 per cent to €92.80 and Canal Plus added 2 per cent to €182.
Amsterdam finished modestly lower with a steep fall for KPN countering strong gains at Royal Dutch. The AEX index shed 0.72 at 684.16.
KPN fell 7.3 per cent on waning merger hopes and a broker downgrade for the telecoms sector. It lost €3.80 at €48.05. Media group Wolters Kluwer jumped €1.26 to €28.01 amid renewed takeover rumours.
Milan saw excitement in the banking sector as Bipop Carire soared on reports that it was to take over Entrium Direct, Germany's largest online bank, just eight months after it was floated. The Mibtel index finished 238 lower at 31,329.
Bipop, one of Italy's largest banks after its aggressive push into Web banking, jumped 5.6 per cent to €9.33.
