Frankfurt Dax 2419.01 (-33.05)

The Frankfurt bourse ended sharply down on the day in line with a weak dollar and tumbling German government bonds. The IBIS Dax dipped to a low of 2408.89 in the post bourse electronic session, but pulled back up as bonds pared their losses to close at 2416.84 points. Chemical sector shares, including Degussa, Henkel, BASF and Schering were all lower, pushed down by the weaker dollar.

Paris CAC 40 1985.59 ( 36.62)

Profit taking took a big bite out of French share prices with the CAC falling back below the 2000 level it had worked so hard to exceed. Dealers said the correction in prices after last week's rally was given further impetus by the lower tone in Wall Street and the fall in bond prices.

Milan MIBTEL 9989 (127)

Italian shares ended just off the day's lows after an unspectacular day of profit taking in modest volumes with sentiment depressed by weaker bonds and the poor performance of other stock markets.