Nokia, SAP power Europe

July 19, 2001 Posted: 1615 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- European stock markets closed higher Thursday after Nokia reported results at the top end of expectations.

The world's leading cell phone maker said second-quarter profit fell 16 percent as telecom firms curtailed spending.

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Net profit dipped to 830 million ($723 billion), or 0.17 a share from 984 billion, or 0.21 a share, in the year earlier period.  Nokia's shares surged almost 13 percent to 22.80.

Strong news pushed Europe's biggest software company, SAP (SAP), up 10.7 percent. The company said its second-quarter net profits jumped 78 percent and offered an upbeat outlook for the rest of 2001.

London's FTSE 100 index rose 32.8 points, or 0.6 percent, to 5,437.4 after dropping to a 17-week low earlier in the session as software house Misys plunged 27.5 percent. The London-based company (MSY) reported a 9 percent fall in annual profits.

Rival software companies followed. Dimension Data (DDT) was down 5.1 percent, CMG (CMG) lost more than 8 percent and Logica (LOG) fell 1 percent.

Shire Pharmaceuticals (SHP), a UK drugmaker, fell 3.7 percent on concern its blockbuster Adderall drug for hyperactive children could face generic competition earlier than expected.

UK media-buying firm Tempus (TSG) rocketed 55.9 percent after France's Havas Advertising (PHAV) agreed to buy the group. Havas rose just more than 7 percent in Paris.

Shares in WPP (WPP), the world's biggest ad company, fell 3.1 percent after it emerged the company had not been consulted about the acquisition. WPP owns a 22 percent stake in Tempus and could make a hostile bid for the media buyer.

Banking stocks were the main gainers in London after the UK cleared the £27 billion ($38.2 billion) merger between Halifax (HFX), the country's biggest mortgage lender, and Bank of Scotland (BSCT).

Halifax gained 3.5 percent, Bank of Scotland rose 2 percent, Alliance & Leicester (AL-) advanced 1.2 percent, and Abbey National, the No.2 mortgage lender in the UK, climbed 4.2 percent.

In Paris, the CAC 40 blue chip index also rebounded from earlier losses, rising 1.3 percent, or 62.89 points, to 4,930.39.

A clutch of technology and telecom stocks, such as software house Dassault Systemes (PDSY), France Telecom (PFTE), consumer electronics company Thomson Multimedia (PHO) and Europe's biggest chipmaker, STMicroelectronics (PSTM), rose more than 3 percent.

The late trading Xetra Dax in Frankfurt rose 84.36 points, or 1.5 percent, to 5,812.73, with SAP topping the risers. Other technology stocks, such as electronics components maker Epcos (FEPC), chipmaker Infineon Technologies (FIFX) and communications conglomerate Siemens (FSIE), rose more than 2.5 percent.

Allianz (FALZ), Europe's second-biggest insurer, rose 1.5 percent after the European Union cleared its acquisition of Dresdner Bank. Shares in Dresdner {FSE:FDRB], Germany's No. 3 bank, rose 1.4 percent.

HypoVereinsbank (FHVM), Germany's second-biggest banks, rose 2.5 percent and the biggest bank Deutsche Bank (FDBK) climbed 1.8 percent.

ASML, the world's largest semiconductor equipment maker, fell 1.2 percent in Amsterdam a day after reporting a first-half loss in line with expectations.

In Amsterdam, the AEX index rose 0.6 percent with the continent's biggest consumer electronics company, Philips Electronics, advancing 2.7 percent.

The SMI in Zurich added 1.7 percent and Milan's MIB30 rose 1.6 percent.

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The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was up 1.5 percent, with the computer services, information technology, and the banking sectors all in positive territory.

U.S. stocks rose early Thursday after reassuring words from Nokia. The Nasdaq composite index rose 54.01, or 2.7 percent, to 2,070.18, while the  Dow Jones industrial average gained 73.5 points, or 0.7 percent, to 10,643.35.

In the currency markets, the euro slipped against the U.S. dollar, trading at 86.92 cents compared with 87.33 in late New York trade Wednesday.

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