Disappointing US economic data, which saw a rise in the US jobless rate to a six-year high, and another weak performance from the oil giants, sent Europe lower yesterday, after the 4.5 per cent rally earlier in the week.
The FTSE Eurotop 300 index edged down 0.9 per cent in late afternoon trade, with the oil and gas sub-index one of the day's biggest losers, with a fall of more than 2 per cent. Royal Dutch fell 2.3 per cent to €54.25, Italy's Eni lost 1.8 per cent to €13.42, France's TotalFinaElf was 1.4 per cent lower at €150.80 and Spain's Repsol dipped 1.5 per cent to €16.22.
Chemicals group Degussa was sharply higher on speculation that the company could become a partner for its German rival Bayer in the foreseeable future. Degussa put on 2.8 per cent to €30.45, while Bayer edged 0.1 per cent higher at €37.35.
Switzerland's Givaudan slipped 1.6 per cent to SFr503 on speculation that the flavours and fragrances company would buy Bayer's Haarmann & Reimer business.
Telecommunications group KPN rose 11.4 per cent to €5.69 as it announced that its new issue of 1 billion shares had been four times subscribed and would be priced at €4.90 each, towards the top end of expectations. Trading will begin on Wednesday.
STMicroelectronics fell 5.4 per cent to €39.55 on fears of a share placement. France Telecom, which owns 10.8 per cent of the chipmaker, said it was talking to Areva, a French energy group, about selling its stake. France Telecom hopes to raise €3.5 billion to help lower its €65 billion debt. Infineon gained 1.7 per cent to €27.77. Electronics and engineering group Siemens fell 1.4 per cent to €73.02.
SociΘtΘ GΘnΘrale dipped 0.5 per cent to €64.40 as the bank, France's second-largest, said its exposure to Enron, the collapsed US energy trader, was $71 million unsecured and $136 million secured.
