Europe closes higher

June 13, 2001 Posted: 1620 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- Europe's top bourses all ended higher Wednesday after a shock profit warning by Nokia in the previous session trampled tech stocks.

Nokia, the world's biggest wireless handset maker, jumped nearly 6 percent. Its stock had closed down 23 percent on Tuesday, wiping $30 billion off its own value after it said market conditions would slash second-quarter earnings.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 / FTSE 250 DAX 30 / DAX 100 CAC 40 / SBF 80

London's FTSE 100 rose 0.4 percent to 5,825.3, with the biggest gainer being business support services group Hays (HAS), up 9.5 percent, after the company said managing director John Cole resigned, a week after a profit warning hammered shares.

British Telecom (BT-A) was second on the leader board, gaining 3.7 percent after selling its UK properties for £2.3 billion ($3.1 billion) as it strives to reduce its huge debts.

Among the other top risers, business software company Sage (SGE) rose just under 3 percent.

Granada (GAA), the UK commercial broadcaster, broke even at the end after earlier rising 0.6 percent after posting a first-half loss that was in line with analyst expectations.

In Paris, the CAC 40 blue chip index rose 0.8 percent to 5,353.6, led by defence and aerospace company Thales (PHO), which jumped 4.8 percent.

Index heavyweights France Telecom (PFTE) advanced 2.7 percent and software company Dassault Systeme (PDLY) was up 3.4 percent.

Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax rose 1.1 percent to 6,128.52, as Deutsche Telekom (FDTE) led gainers, leaping 5.8 percent.

Europe's biggest software company, SAP (FSAP), was behind Deutsche, rising 2.5 percent and drug company Schering-Plough (FSPL) rose nearly 2.6 percent.

Meanwhile, Deutsche Lufthansa (FLHA), Europe's biggest airline, was the biggest percentage decliner in Frankfurt, losing more than 5 percent. The company cut its operating profit forecast for 2001 due to the costs of a pay dispute with pilots.

In Amsterdam, the AEX index climbed 0.8 percent, while the SMI in Zurich was up nearly 1 percent and the MIB30 in Milan rose just over 0.5 percent.

The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was up 0.8 percent, with the information technology sector up 2.7 percent and the computer services sector gaining a shade over 2 percent.

Market Movers

TechMark 100 Nemax 50 Nouveau Marché

U.S. stocks had trouble finding direction Wednesday morning as investors digested economic data that showed mixed strength in consumer spending and a slew of corporate commentary.

During mid-morning trade, the Nasdaq composite index slipped 7.20 to 2,162.75 while the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.81 to 10,947.57. The S&P 500 slid 2.44 to 1,253.41.

In the currency market, the euro was little changed against the U.S. dollar, fetching 85.22 U.S. cents compared with 85.31 cents in late New York trading on Tuesday.

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