Paris ended a day of heavy volumes little changed with the CAC-40 index up 1.22 at 3,362.26. Total turnover was 13.9 billion francs.
Usinor had a volatile session, leaping to Ffr67 on the news that it was to buy a controlled stake in Belgian rival Cockerill for $770 million, only to close lower. Usinor said the deal would boost 1999 earnings by 15 per cent, but still ended off Ffr1.80 at Ffr63.
France Telecom fell Ffr15.50 to Ffr409.50 on overhang worries amid talk that the recent better tone to the market would tempt the government to dust down plans shelved this year to sell a second tranche of the telecommunications giant.
Banks were bouncy following a positive note from Salomons, which upgraded a raft of leading Euro-banks from "outperform" to "buy" on the assumption it was now time to step back into the sector after a severe shakeout.
Frankfurt ended higher but almost 50 points below the best of the session. The Xetra DAX index was up 20.54 at 4,391.64 when electronic trading finished.
Utilities suffered a renewed wave of political jitters after a press report revived worries about a phased rundown for Germany's nuclear power plants.
Viag lost 10 deutschmarks to DM1,135 and Veba came off DM3.84 to DM82.90. RWE shed DM3.30 to DM84.50. Siemens found itself caught in the undertow, slipping DM1.40 to DM89.30 on concern for its nuclear unit, KWU.
Amsterdam pushed higher for the fourth day running in spite of a fall at Elsevier amid talk of an imminent profits warning from the publisher. The AEX index ended up 7.37 at 941.34 in busy volumes ahead of today's options expiry. Elsevier fell 2.10 guilders or 7.6 per cent to Fl 25.50 in heavy volume of 7.7 million shares.
Philips provided one of the more visible counterbalances, rising Fl 4.10 or 4.1 per cent to Fl 104.10 on the improving Asian background and talk of a big broker buy note for Taiwan Semiconductor, in which the Dutch electronics giant has a 27 per cent stake.
Milan closed marginally higher after a volatile session led by technical trading. The Mibtel index rose 26 as options-related buying supported prices but profit-taking after Wednesday's rally eroded the gains. Uncertainty over the political situation had little impact on sentiment. Fiat fell 146 lire or 2.7 per cent to L4,220 after announcing production cuts and layoffs.
Finmeccanica rallied L131 or 10 per cent to L1,390. Investors were cheered by its disposal yesterday of its stake in Elsag to ABB for $2.1 billion.
Telecom Italia, which jumped on hopes of a decision on managerial changes at the board meeting scheduled for next week, fell on profit-taking, closing down L135 to L10,830.
