Stylish LVMH, Christian Dior fail to cheer Paris

Weakness in market heavyweight France Telecom, coupled with losses in Tokyo and a fragile-looking rally on Wall Street, kept Paris in the red despite a last-minute comeback. LVMH dismissed the bearish mood, forging €10.70, or 4.9 per cent, ahead to €231.20 after the company confirmed it had registered a rebound in activity in 1999. LVMH's subsidiary, Christian Dior, also rose on the news despite reporting a net 1998 fall in net profit. Shares added €4.80, or 4.2 per cent, to €118.

Canal Plus was back into the black following a seven-day fall. Shares in the group rose €12.80, or 5.3 per cent, to €253.80. France Telecom failed to surprise investors with in-line 1998 results that sent the shares €1 lower to €75.50.

Frankfurt was weaker although the Xetra DAX index recovered from its lows to close safely above 5,000 after a thin, uncertain session ahead of today's triple witching futures and options expiry. The blue-chip index finished 36.80 lower at 5,025.79. Siemens bucked the trend, climbing 81 cents to €62.10 on news that it was buying another US Internet company and planned to shed 1,800 jobs in its power-plant division.

Deutsche Bank gave up €1.07 to €51 after announcing plans to increase its equity capital to fund its Bankers Trust acquisition and prepare for consolidation in Europe's banking sector.

Amsterdam closed slightly lower after the timid rise on Wall Street rescued it from intra-day lows. Nedlloyd, the shipping and transport group, soared €7 to €19 after the company said it would sell its European transport and distribution operation to Deutsche Post.

Madrid ended in negative territory despite a half-hearted recovery that left the general index 6.78 off to 890.56. Banks turned in a poor performance again as BBV came under pressure on news that it had sold a 1.2 per cent stake in France's Promodes in a bid to offset losses in Latin America. Shares in the bank slid nine cents to €14.04.

Helsinki underperformed other European markets, losing 75.27 or 1.2 per cent to 6,179.40 on the general index.

Milan closed at the session's high, lifted by a late rally in Eni. The real-time Mibtel index added 197 to 25,087.