World mobile telephone leader Nokia cut its sales forecast for the first quarter 2001 on today, saying adverse markets had a stronger-than-anticipated impact on operations.
Year-on-year sales growth for the first quarter would be around 20 per cent, compared to an earlier estimate of between 25 and 30 per cent, Nokia said in a statement.
But Nokia said it nonetheless foresaw "solid growth" and "better than anticipated margins" for the first quarter, helping its shares shoot up 9.91 per cent to euro 26.95 on the Helsinki stock exchange.
"The slower than expected sales growth in the first quarter is mainly due to the stronger-than-anticipated impact of demanding market conditions," Nokia said.
"Especially in the United States, economic uncertainty has increased during the last weeks," the statement said.
In contrast to most of its competitors, Nokia had not issued a profit warning recently despite the dramatic devaluation hitting most issues in the high technology sector.
Stock markets had been waiting anxiously for news Swedish giant Ericsson warned on Monday that it would make a heavy loss in the first quarter instead of breaking even as had been expected.
It blamed difficult trading conditions and uncertainty in the United States.
The warning hit Ericsson shares hard and was a factor in depressing stock markets in Europe and the United States on Monday.
AFP