Bourses turned down yesterday on renewed gloom about the strength of the Japanese yen against the dollar. The Eurobloc 100 index fell 14.23 or 1.3 per cent to 1,085.31. The Eurotop 100 gave up 39.78 or 1.3 per cent to end at 2,951.22 while the Eurotop 300 finished 17.19 or 1.3 per cent lower at 1,295.64.
Frankfurt managed to absorb the worst of the selling with the Xetra Dax index finishing off 69.22 at 5,282.76 after touching a low for the session of 5,247.70. Renewed competition concern sent Deutsche Telekom lower. The news that Vodafone Airtouch was forming an international alliance with Bell Atlantic cut 91 cents off the shares that ended at €39.68. Chemicals were among the heavier casualties, running up against heavy selling on petrochemical price concerns. BASF fell €1.26 to €43.74 and Degussa Huels came off €1.70 to €35.24.
Retailers gleaned little comfort from an industry forecast of dull sales over the rest of this year. Metro shed €1.54 at €51.11 but Karstadt ended 90 cents better at €433 after hitting a low of €420. Siemens had a volatile day, racing ahead to €84.30 on talk of an upward blip for chip prices. But the shares eventually succumbed to profit-taking, closing 21 cents ahead at €82.36.
Paris dropped sharply as a clutch of blue-chip companies suffered big falls. The CAC-40 index ended 67.56 or 1.4 per cent lower at 4,612.93.
Lagardere, the conglomerate, dipped €2.60 or 6 per cent to €41 on reports that Aerospatiale Matra would report a first-half loss. Lagardere, which owns 33 per cent of Aerospatiale, climbed 6.3 per cent on Friday on speculation that it might sell its stake. Oil stocks suffered ahead of today's Opec meeting, which will discuss production limits. TotalFina came off €4.40 or 3.6 per cent to €117.10 while Elf Aquitaine ended €7 or 4 per cent lower at €168.60.
Michelin, the tyre-maker, fell €1.60 or 3.4 per cent to €45.40 as a one-day strike at its factories in Clermont-Ferrand raised the prospect that it would be unable to carry through its plan to cut 7,500 European staff.
Amsterdam fell 11.84 or 2.1 per cent to 564.74 on the AEX index following steep falls for Royal Dutch and Philips.
