German shares lost ground, but most leading bourses continued to push higher yesterday, with Paris, Milan, Madrid and Stockholm all hitting fresh record highs.
Paris saw a tremendous late rally by the big stocks. France Telecom closed up €5.90 at €172.9, Carrefour up €8.40 at €150.4, Vivendi up €6 to €129 and Alcatel up €15.50 to €279.9.
These four stocks were the day's main supports and offset weaker broad momentum that saw the CAC-40 index losers outpace gainers 23 to 15. The benchmark ended 79.49, or 1.3 per cent higher, at 6,287.01.
Frankfurt reversed early gains to close with the Xetra DAX index down 97.72 at 7,611.55. Financials provided the odd firm feature, but the broad trend was down on across-the-board selling. Market leader Deutsche Telekom shed €2.90, or 3.2 per cent, to €89.10.
Adidas-Salomon was also a heavy faller, slipping €2.85 to €53.05. Fresnius Medical came off €2.85 at €83. Retailer Metro found little comfort in an upgrade at Lehman Brothers, slipping €2.20 at €40.30.
Commerzbank continued to gain ground on merger rumours and Dresdner Bank also found favour. Commerzbank rose €1.45 to €36.80 for a two-day gain of 12.9 per cent. Dresdner added 2.21 at 52.20.
Amsterdam ended little changed in spite of a bounce for Royal Dutch and another session of startling gains for media stocks.
Sentiment at Royal Dutch, already buoyed by this week's strong results statement, was boosted by further strong oil prices. The shares rose €2.05 to €56.70.
Milan swept up to a fourth consecutive record close as the Mibtel index finished 855, or 2.7 per cent higher, at 32,278, extending its rise over the week to 6.5 per cent.
Madrid reached new highs, with technology and telecoms-related shares spurring the market. The Ibex 35 index closed at 12,432.6, up 412 or 3.4 per cent.
Internet group Terra Networks was up near its 15 per cent limit, ending up €17.85 at €137.1. Terra is now the second most valuable Spanish stock, on level pegging with the two biggest banks.
Parent company Telefonica, the biggest stock, saw its shares rise €1.28 to €31.94, while TPI, its other offshoot, was up €15.70 to €75.20, more than 25 per cent.
