Bourses struggle to regain lost ground

Leading European bourses revived as investors juggled Monday's steep fall for US equities with early stability yesterday on Wall Street. The FTSE Eurobloc 100 index lost 1.1 per cent at 1,056.50 and the FTSE Eurotop 100 index almost 1 per cent at 2,944.49. The broader FTSE Eurotop 300 index shed 1.1 per cent at 1,276.17.

Frankfurt ended 88.05 lower at 5,165.72 on the Xetra Dax index after touching a low for the session of 5,125.70.

Banks were mixed. Deutsche Bank lost 51 cents at €52.89 and HypoVereinsbank 74 cents at €54.73. Sentiment was not helped by a Merrill Lynch downgrade to "neutral" from "accumulate" for Commerzbank, which shed €1.37 to €28.32. Dresdner, which puts out first-quarter results on Friday, added 75 cents at €36.95.

Telecoms were an active sector. Deutsche Telekom, the focus of persistent rumours of a big deal to compensate for the failure of its Telecom Italia merger plans, came off €2.16 at €35.60.

Mannesmann, which will buy part of Telecom Italia from new owners Olivetti, continued to charge higher, adding €4.86 at €168.30 for a net gain of more than 15 per cent in six days. Steel leader Thyssen Krupp lost 47 cents at €19.16 ahead of tomorrow's six-monthly figures.

Paris partly recouped early losses towards the end of a quiet session dominated by concerns about the steep overnight fall on Wall Street. The CAC-40 index ended 24.35 or 0.6 per cent lower at 4,373.78. Bank shares were hit heavily after the declines suffered the previous day by US stocks such as Citigroup and J.P. Morgan.

Banque Nationale de Paris fell €1.65 or 2 per cent to €81.35, Societe Generale dropped €5.90 or 3.1 per cent to €184 and Paribas closed €1.90 or 1.7 per cent down at €108.10.

Monday's 2.6 per cent tumble in the Nasdaq composite damaged technology stocks.

Cap Gemini, the software group, shed €2.20 or 1.5 per cent to end at €143.80, while Bull, the computer manufacturer, finished 54 cents or 5.3 per cent lower at €9.70. Sanofi-Synthelabo, the pharmaceuticals group, ended its first day of trade at €41.60, up 65 cents or 1.6 per cent.

Zurich was unable to match Wall Street's more positive start and the SMI index finished 167.6 lower at 6,887.6.

In pharmaceuticals, Roche certificates tumbled 540 Swiss francs to 16,130 francs, under pressure from concerns that the company could face more penalties in the US on top of the $500 million already paid to settle charges of vitamin price- fixing. Novartis lost 59 francs to 2,221 francs.