European markets end higher

February 7, 2002 Posted: 1803 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- European markets ended higher on Thursday, bouncing back from early losses, led by telecoms, techs and insurance stocks.

BT Group (BT), the UK telecoms giant, set a positive tone for the markets, posting better-than-expected third-quarter net income. Its shares rose 5 percent. Other European telecoms also managed to recover from earlier losses in the session.

That helped to reverse some of the negative impact from Philips Electronics, Europe's largest consumer electronics company, which posted a loss of $1 billion in the fourth quarter and warned it did not see markets strengthening. Philips also rebounded from earlier losses, rising

2.6 percent.

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London's FTSE 100 climbed 1.1 percent to 5,127 and the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris rose 0.5 percent to 4,295.65, while Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax was up 1.4 percent to 4,872.76 in late trading (the German exchange closes at 1900 GMT).

The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was up 0.9 percent, with the insurance, telecoms and IT sectors leading the advances. The oil and gas, and mining sectors were in negative territory.

BT's results came as welcome news to the telecoms sector. UK mobile phone group Mmo2 (OOM), which was demerged from BT in November, rose 5 percent. Earlier this week, the company announced it was cutting 1,900 jobs in Britain and Germany as part of a restructuring programme.

Vodafone (VOD), the world's biggest mobile phone company, gained 5.7 percent, while French mobile operator Orange (PORA) was up 4 percent. France Telecom (FTE) climbed 4.2 percent, while Deutsche Telekom (DTEG) was up 1.4 percent in late trading in Frankfurt.

Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, rose 3.9 percent, while  Ericsson, the world's biggest supplier of mobile phone networks, advanced 1.2 percent.

In the tech sector, German chip maker Infineon (FIFX) rose 3.9 percent in late Frankfurt trading, while tech giant Siemens (SIEG) was up 3.2 percent. Cap Gemini (PCAP), Europe's biggest computer services company, rose 2.4 percent.

The insurance sector was the best performing sub-index in Europe, led by Germany's Allianz (ALVG), which rose 6.8 percent after reporting 2001 results that were in line with expectations and forecasting improved sales and profits for 2002.

British Sky Broadcasting (BSY), Europe's second-largest pay-TV broadcaster, topped the gainers board in London, rising 6.4 percent. The company reports its half-year results on Friday.

The oil and gas sector was in negative territory due to lower crude prices and disappointing results from Royal Dutch/Shell, Europe's largest oil company.

Shares in Shell Transport & Trading (SHEL), which owns 40 percent of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, slipped 0.6 percent in London. Royal Dutch, which owns the rest of the oil giant, lost 0.8 percent in Amsterdam.

Among Europe's smaller markets, Amsterdam's AEX index edged up 0.4 percent, while Milan's MIB30 index rose 0.8 percent and the SMI in Zurich was up 1.4 percent.

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In the U.S. on Wednesday, a rise in January retail sales and some stability in the job market gave the blue-chip Dow Jones a little momentum at midday on Thursday, but continued tech weakness in networking and chip stocks restrained gains in the Nasdaq.

The Nasdaq composite index was up 4.78 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,817.49, while the Dow Jones industrial average rose 70.51 points, or 0.7 percent, to 9,723.90.