Ericsson trips up Europe

January 25, 2002 Posted: 1702 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- European markets closed lower on Friday, with technology and telecom stocks leading the declines after Ericsson posted hefty fourth-quarter losses.

Ericsson, the world's biggest maker of mobile networks, posted a net loss of 3.5 billion crowns ($331 million) and warned of a 4.9 billion loss in the  first quarter of this year. Its stock dived 4 percent in Stockholm.

London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.8 percent to 5,193.0 and the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris dipped 0.5 percent to 4,484.31 while Frankfurt's late trading Xetra Dax lost 0.5 percent to 5,127.89.

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The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was down 0.4 percent, with the information technology, computer services and pharmaceuticals sub-indices among the big decliners.

Ericsson's results dragged down European tech stocks, with the world's biggest mobile phone maker Nokia falling 2.1 percent. The Finnish company on Thursday posted better than expected fourth-quarter earnings and said sales would improve this year.

Alcatel (CGEP), the French telecom equipment maker, fell 3.5 percent.

UK telecom group Cable & Wireless (CW) was the top decliner in London, falling 5.2 percent after struggling rival Energis (EGS) issued a profit warning on Thursday. Energis, Britain's biggest internet data carrier, fell 21.7 percent.

British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) fell 2.4 percent after a newspaper report said it will consider selling some research operations if the rate at which it discovers new drugs does not improve over the next few years.

And British Airways (BAY), Europe's biggest airline, fell 4.5 percent after the U.S. Department of Transportation approved a transatlantic alliance with AMR's American Airlines, but asked the airlines to give 224 weekly take-off and landing slots at Heathrow Airport, sufficient for 16 daily return flights.

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Among Europe's smaller markets, Amsterdam's AEX index fell 0.2 percent and Milan's MIB30 index slipped 0.4 percent, while the SMI in Zurich was down 0.3 percent.

In the U.S. on Friday, Wall Street was mixed at midday as weak tech earnings from JDS Uniphase and Ericsson underscored concerns about the timeline of the corporate profit recovery. The tech-laden Nasdaq composite index fell 0.7 percent, to 1,929.61, while the Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.4 percent to 9,839.38