Deutsche Telekom rose more than 5 per cent in morning trade in Frankfurt, halting the steep slide that took it to its lowest level for the year on Monday.
The share price had closed 11.7 per cent lower on Monday after it confirmed a takeover bid for VoiceStream of the US. However, the rally proved short-lived. By 5.30 p.m. Deutsche Telekom was eight cents down at €48.71.
The Xetra DAX index was 27.41 lower at 7,300.90 and technology stocks suffered after Monday's Nasdaq losses.
Epcos was down €2.63 at €116.93, SAP edged down €7.10 to €242.90, Infineon dropped €1.32 to €80.68 and Siemens, which announces nine-month results today, was down €3.70 at €177.01.
There was better news from the old economy as ThyssenKrupp rallied 82 cents to €18.02 and MAN extended Monday's gains, adding €1.13 to €34.68.
Paris slipped back a little at the start of a new trading account in spite of a flurry of blue-chip buying. The CAC-40 index lost 0.6 per cent to 6,463.91.
Traders said investors had been buying stocks with earnings releases this week. Thomson Multimedia was up 4.8 per cent at €76, Schneider Electric 4 per cent at €76.05 and glassmaker Saint-Gobain 0.7 per cent at €156.
However another company with results this week, Renault, fell 1.3 per cent to €48.50. Sentiment was dented as Peugeot's results disappointed the market.
In spite of a better-than-expected 18.2 per cent rise in sales for the first half, Peugeot fell 4.6 per cent to €225.90, shedding all Monday's gains.
Shares in Air France were suspended after falling 10 per cent to €18 immediately after the report of the crash of one of its Concorde aircraft outside Paris. They were later requoted at €19.30, a fall of 3.5 per cent.
Amsterdam closed 0.4 per cent down on the AEX index at 685.2, with technology shares noticeably weaker.
Philips shed €1.75 to €52.00, UPC gave up €1.50, or 4.4 per cent, to €32.35 and Baan fell almost 4 per cent to €2.65. Shares in Getronics closed 30 cents lower at €17.50.
