European shares hit their lowest levels in more than a year, hit by unexpectedly strong US inflation data and a string of warnings from flagship hightech companies.
But Irish shares ended some 24 points higher, at a new year high, despite the 2 per cent fall in the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 and the 1.7 per cent drop in the FTSE Eurotop 300.
A continued strong performance from financial shares helped the Irish market to avoid the worst of the downturn elsewhere although dealers said volumes were generally light.
In Europe, telecom equipment stocks Marconi and Alcatel led the rout in technology shares as the sector was thumped to 15month lows after Nortel Networks sharply reduced its 2001 revenue forecasts.
Investors also had to contend with warnings from Dell and Hewlett-Packard, together with a Wall Street Journal report that former market darling Lucent was having trouble raising $6.5 billion to renew a credit facility.
Nortel Networks, the world's top supplier of fibre-optic telecoms equipment, slashed its 2001 revenue forecast by half on Thursday, warning it would post a first-quarter loss and would increase job cutbacks to 10,000.
Nortel shares nosedived over 30 per cent in early trade in the US and Canada.
France's Alcatel, second only to Nortel in the global fibre-optic pecking order, fell sharply, dragging the French market to its lowest level in 13 months.
In Britain, the FTSE ended more than 100 points lower with Vodafone one of the big losers. The mobile phone giant, which has agreed to buy Eircell, slid by more than 5 per cent after it said a regulatory probe could derail plans for the sale of its Italian telecoms group Infostrada. In Dublin, Eircom fell by four cents to €2.56.
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