The CAC-40 index in Paris, up 20 per cent in the six weeks to last Friday's record closing high of 5,397.34, shed 32.29 at 5,341.62 yesterday. Tech-related stocks, which have spearheaded the recent rally, led the way lower with Bouygues, Cap Gemini and Equant among the day's heaviest fallers.
Buoygues, pushed up by speculation about its cellular offshoot, lost €30, or 6.2 per cent, at €458. Cap Gemini shed €4.60 at €175.60 and Equant came off €1.50 at €96.
The FTSE Eurobloc 100 index closed down 13.63 at 1,210.16 while the FTSE Eurotop 100 lost 45.88 to 3,326.99. The broader FTSE Eurotop 300 settled down 17.67 at 1,436.45.
France Telecom and supermarket group Carrefour, two index heavyweights, fell €3.70 to €173, and €2.40 to €115.10, respectively.
Frankfurt closed slightly higher, having spent most of the day in negative territory. A strong start to Wall Street, coupled with a recovery in Deutsche Telekom, were responsible for the late rise. The DAX closed up 7.16 at 5,896.04, a rise of just 0.12 per cent.
Deutsche Bank was up 22 cents to €64.90, despite the announcement of disappointing nine-month sales.
Rival telecom group Mannesmann advanced €2.50 to €209, a rise of over 2 per cent. BMW, which has significant dollar-denominated earnings, benefited from the continued strength of the US currency against the euro. The company gained 3 per cent to close at €26.50.
Amsterdam ended €8.98 lower at €602.11 on the AEX index in the wake of heavy falls at Royal Dutch and Unilever, both of which came off more than 2 per cent.
Zurich closed flat as Novartis and Roche, which had underpinned the market in recent sessions, went their separate ways. The SMI index finished 0.3 easier at 7,399.7.
Helsinki came down with a bump as profit-taking in bourse engine Nokia deprived the market of a sixth consecutive record close. The Hex general index lost 464.97, or 4 per cent, at 11,268.99. Nokia fell €9.40, or 6.4 per cent, to €140.60, well below its overnight close on Wall Street, as investors cashed in on the bull-run that has seen it add 18 per cent in the past week and 75 per cent since mid-October.
Milan pulled back after four consecutive sessions of gains as Internet-related stocks staged an about turn and telecoms issues fell prey to profit-taking by foreign investors. The Mibtel index finished 97 lower at 24,938.
Telecom Italia Mobile lost 1.4 per cent to €7.80, Tecnost fell 2.6 per cent to €2.35, Olivetti 1.9 per cent to €2.14 and Telecom Italia 1.7 per cent at €10.83.
