Bourses end volatile week in record territory

Leading bourses ended a volatile week on a high note, with Frankfurt breaking through to a fresh record. The Xetra DAX added 98.15 at 7,738.68 after renewed gains for technology leaders and a strong recovery for motors.

Supported by the strength of US technology shares, Siemens put on a further €8.51 to €188 and software leader SAP gained €32.50 at €889. Epcos rose €6.00 to €149.

Volkswagen, hit earlier in the week by disappointing results, rallied by €2.03 to €41.64 and DaimlerChrysler improved €33.70, or 6 per cent, to €65.80.

Utilities continued to suffer at the hands of profit-takers. RWE lost 66 cents at €33.40 and Veba €2.40 at €48.

Paris broke above the 6,200 level on the CAC-40 index, but fell back in late trading to close up 109.8 at 6,188.64 in heavy volume of 44.7 million shares.

There was strong demand for selected heavyweights. Carrefour jumped €13.10, or 9.4 per cent, to €152.6 and LVMH added €19.90 to €393.7. Among techs, Canal Plus jumped €17 to €282 and STMicroelectronics was up €10.60 at €209.3.

Alstom was the main odd man out, sliding steeply on rumours of an impending profits warning. A downgrade at BNP also dented sentiment and the shares shed €1.94, or 8.1 per cent, to €22.10.

A downgrade at Goldman Sachs hit Peugeot, which ended off €3.90 at €217.1. Amsterdam ended 9.01 better at 662.56 on the AEX index, with further strong gains at Philips and KPN countering steep falls a mong media stocks.

Philips surged €16.05 to €198.80 for a gain this week of 20 per cent. KPN gained €11.10, or 9.1 per cent, to €133.50. KLM put on 60 cents at €19.30.

Milan returned to its record-setting ways on a day that saw action in Olivetti savings and preference shares following the company's announcement late on Thursday that both classes of shares would be converted into ordinary stock after the payment of a dividend on 1999 results. Olivetti ordinary shares put on 2.2 per cent to €4.08, savings shares shot up 24.7 per cent to €4.14 and preference shares rose by 27.4 per cent to €4.

The Mibtel index put on 984, or 3 per cent, to close at a record high of 33,577.