The Frankfurt stock market suffered a small setback with the DAX index ending 0.25 per cent lower. The market was adversely affected as the heavyweight blue chip Daimler Benz came under pressure after its shares resumed trading after a one day suspension.

It was hit by the Fokker aircraft saga and its own loss of around 6 billion deutschmarks for last year. Daimler gave up 11 D marks at the start of the official trading session to stand at DM762, but then clawed back some territory to end at DM766. It continued to rise on the IBIS electronic market after the official market closed to stand at DM769.50 in mid afternoon.

Paris CAC 40 1934.08 (-20.34)

The Paris market continued its downward trend and plummeted by 1.04 per cent. The decline was attributed to profit taking but dealers said there was still a lot of uncertainty.

Milan MIBTEL 9768 (plus 51)

Milan rebounded from earlier losses to end firmer as hopes of an Italian political settlement rose.