Profit-taking brings bourses back to earth

Modest profit-taking pulled Frankfurt back from the record highs hit last week. The Xetra Dax index ended off 148.29 at 7,296.32 after touching 7,270.40 during the session. The FTSE Eurobloc 100 index fell 12.14 to 1,412.91. The FTSE Eurotop 100 lost 27.73 to 3,588 while the Eurotop 300 was 10.49 lower at 1,539.11.

Adidas-Salomon jumped €4.30 to €61.70 following strong results and a 9 per cent increase in the dividend from the sportswear group. Deutsche Telekom, one of last week's busier stocks, led the profit-taking, dipping €4.80 to €80.60. Chemicals leader BASF gave up €1.32 at €41.75.

Banks continued to wilt. Deutsche Bank shed 70 cents at €82.20 and Dresdner Bank fell €1.65 at €49.75. HypoVereinsbank came off €1.25 at €59.75.

Paris closed lower after four days of gains, pulled down by faltering prices in the US and profit-taking at France Telecom which cut its share price by €9.90 to €152.10. The CAC-40 index lost 72.14 or 1.2 per cent to 6,203.58.

Other stocks associated with the telecom sector moved upwards in the wake of the Vodafone-Mannesmann merger. Vivendi, which has an Internet alliance with Vodafone, jumped €2.40 to €119 after Warburg added Vivendi to its Euro Focus list.

Retailer Pinault-Printemps lost 5.2 per cent or €11.30 to €208 after Deutsche Bank downgraded it to "underperform", questioning the company's approach to e-commerce.

Amsterdam ended with the AEX index off 8.53 at 652.42 after a savage round of profit-taking at telecoms leader KPN. KPN, seen as front runner in any bidding for Orange, the British mobile phone operator, rose to a high of €128.90 up 26 per cent on last Thursday's close before falling back steeply. The stock finished at €119.50, down €119 in 4.9 million shares traded.

Madrid shares fell in a session marked by poor performances from leading companies. The Ibex 35 lost 73.3 points to 11,506.8.

Helsinki closed flat as market leaders Nokia and Sonera both slipped, the former by 15 cents to €197.60 and the latter €2.40 to €82.60. The Hex general index lost 11.02 to 16,072.28.