Frankfurt DAX: Major European share markets all lost ground with share prices giving up 0.36 per cent in London, 0.32 per cent on the Paris Bourse and a sharp drop of 1.46 per cent in Frankfurt.

Frankfurt shares plummeted as the DAX index finished at 4,220.25 points, down from 4,282.84 points at the official close on Wednesday.

Traders said the market was nervous because of marked dollar weakness and a new fall of Asian markets. The dollar was fixed in Frankfurt at 1.8072 deutschmarks, down sharply from 1.8316 at the Wednesday fixing. The Frankfurt bond market also dropped, and the average yield on government issues jumped by 0.06 points to 4.80 per cent.

Paris CAC-40: The Paris Bourse eased in active trading, due mainly to the dollar's weakness, the CAC-40 index giving up 19.2 points or 0.32 per cent by comparison with the Wednesday close to finish at 2,988.59 points. The dollar was down more than 1 per cent on the day to stand at 6.04 French francs in late afternoon. The dollar's value is important to many French exporters, as a strong dollar increases their results when export receipts are converted into francs.

Franco-American group, Schlumberger scored a net result of $1.30 billion last year, up a hefty 52 per cent from the 1996 figure. The group said the profit came on record operating turnover of $10.65 billion.

Milan Mibtel: Milan posted a good gain in nervous trading, focusing on Fiat following the announcement of Mr Cesare Romiti's planned departure as group head. The Mibtel index gained 109 points or 0.6 per cent on the day to end at 18,381.

State holding company IRI plans to privatise motorway group, Autostrade by the summer and Alitalia and Aeroporti di Roma by the end of 1998. IRI chairman, Mr Gian Maria Gros Pietro also said that Daewoo was in pole position to buy Finmeccanica's aerospace and engineering arm, Ansaldo, but that the race has still not finished. Finmeccanica is a unit of IRI.