The apparent disarray behind the closed doors in Vienna unwound the recent rally for crude prices and ripped the heart out of the oil sector.
With OPEC seemingly unable to come up with an agreed deal on production cuts, crude price fell to less than $20 a barrel and sent the FTSE Eurotop 300 oil index lower. It ended off 5.7 per cent.
Royal Dutch fell 5.3 per cent to €55.90 and TotalFinaElf 5.5 per cent to €148.50.
Eni and Repsol, both of which issued third-quarter statements yesterday, shed 4.8 per cent to €13.33 and 4.2 per cent to €16.09 respectively.
But there was evidence of money coming back into technology issues.
Siemens surged 7.6 per cent to €62.20 after it said restructuring would improve next year's earnings. Two months ago the shares were at €35.
Siemens reported a net loss of more than €1 billion for the quarter ended in September but said net cash from operations rose to €5.86 billion from €2.76 billion a year earlier.
Cap Gemini outperformed other stocks in the computing services sector, gaining 6.5 per cent to €74.55, after sales figures were in line with expectations. Third-quarter sales were €1,972 million, a decline of 1.8 per cent compared with 2000.
Analyst Ms Maria Concetta Cianci at brokerage Williams de Broe said the price rise was partly because many in the market were hoping Cap Gemini would benefit strongly from a rebound in IT spending in 2002.
Chipmaker Infineon started the day in bullish mood as upgrades from analysts followed its annual results on Tuesday. Schroder Salomon Smith Barney raised its target on the stock from 20 to 35 and Deutsche Bank raised its target from 15 to 30.
Late in the day the shares had shed their gains, leaving the stock 0.5 per cent lower at 22.05.
