Frankfurt DAX: 4,623.37 (-5.66)

Paris CAC-40: 3,465.22 (-60.04)

The second profits warning in two days from a heavyweight kept a restraining hand on European stock markets.

Yesterday the culprit was Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, and at the close Amsterdam sat fair and square at the bottom of the day's performance charts with a decline on the AEX index of 27.98 or 2.8 per cent at 959.57.

Like Alcatel of France on Thursday, Shell announced that second-half earnings were in trouble. Royal Dutch, the local arm of the oil combine, fell 4.80 guilders or 5.1 per cent to Fl 88.50 with a massive 17.6 million shares traded. The day's low was Fl 83.70.

Unilever and Akzo Nobel both came off more than 5 per cent, slipping Fl 6.10 to Fl 112 and Fl 3.50 to Fl 56.40 respectively.

Paris ended 60.04 lower at 3,465.22 on the CAC-40 index after a heavy-volume session. Accor was the day's big faller, sliding 180 francs or 13.7 per cent to Ffr1,130 on reports of a bearish sector note by a leading broker.

Cap Gemini came off Ffr72 at Ffr741 following the round of broker downgrades for SAP, the German software leader. The Shell profits warning sent Total down Ffr12 at Ffr674 and Elf Aquitaine Ffr21 at Ffr681.

Frankfurt closed little changed with the Xetra DAX off just 5.66 at 4,623.37 when electronic trading ended.

Zurich closed a volatile day off 1 per cent with the SMI index falling 62.5 to 6,342.7. Nestle, which reported higher interim earnings, rose 54 Swiss francs to Sfr2,660.

Milan edged lower in nervous trading, and the Mibtel index closed down 46 or 0.2 per cent at 19,192.