Another down day for beleaguered TMTs

The technology and telecom sectors had another down day. The uncertain start on the Nasdaq, coupled to its 5 per cent fall on Tuesday, was enough to undermine values.SAP, Europe's biggest business software company, plunged by as much as 10 per cent at one point on doubts about its growth prospects.There was also a downgrade from Schroder Salomon Smith Barney and technical selling after it broke through the 180 barrier on Tuesday. The shares closed 7.5 per cent down at a near two-year low of €160.60.The indebted Dutch cable company UPC fell 8 per cent to €13.12 after announcing it had secured financing to buy more German cable assets. Mr Rod Chisholm, telecoms analyst at HSBC, said the fall "underlines the fact that the market is no longer buying the story that everything on a per subscriber basis is good".Mr Philip Carse at Schroder Salomon Smith Barney thought, however, that the purchase was "a sensible thing for UPC to do" because the assets were not being paid for from existing resources.French telecom stocks were also weak. The French telecoms regulator took a firm stance on the prospect of raising lots of cash from the auction of third generation mobile licences. France Telecom, which owns Orange, fell 2.6 per cent to €101.70, having lost 5 per cent on Tuesday because of the announcement of Mr Hans Snook's departure from Orange. The conglomerate Bouygues, which has construction, media and telecom interests, fell 3.6 per cent to €53. Vivendi, whose Cegetel telecoms unit controls mobile operator SFR, fell 1.9 per cent to €74.40. Swisscom slipped 0.5 per cent to 428 Swiss francs after reporting nine-month results.