Europe hit by telecom woes

February 22, 2002 Posted: 1755 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- European markets ended lower on Friday, after a sell-off in tech and telecom stocks that began on Wall Street and carried over for the whole session.

Investors were initially shaken by profit warnings from U.S. optical networking company Ciena Corp. and BellSouth, the third biggest U.S. phone company, on Thursday.

Sentiment continued to slide after Deutsche Telekom Chief Executive Ron Sommer said the group may delay flotation of its mobile unit, T-Mobile, which was expected to raise 10 billion ($8.69 billion), is key to helping the German giant meet its commitment to reduce its 65 billion to 50 billion by the end of this year. Telekom (DTEG) shares were down 4.7 percent in late trading in Frankfurt.

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London's FTSE 100 lost 0.4 percent to 5,050.8 and the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris fell 1 percent to 4,245.2, while Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax dropped 2.1 percent to 4,747.46 in late trading (the German market closes at 19 GMT).

The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, fell 1 percent, with the telecom IT and computer sectors leading the decliners.

France Telecom (FTE) fell 4.1 percent and its mobile unit Orange (ORA) dropped 4.2 percent as their dispute with German partner MobilCom over investments in third generation mobile phone networks began to affect their shares price.

Vodafone (VOD), the world's largest mobile operator, slipped 1.9

percent after Goldman Sachs cut its target to 200 pence from 240p on a shorter-term view. British mobile operator mm02 (OOM) fell 3.1 percent. Cable & Wireless (CW), the UK telecom giant, lost 3.3 percent.  

French optical components group Alcatel Optronics (CGO) fell 5.1 percent, its more liquid parent and Europe's largest wire line equipment group Alcatel (CGEP) dropped 2 percent. Finland's Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, fell 5.8 percent, while the world's biggest producer of mobile networks Ericsson fell 2.1 percent.

COLT Telecom (CTM) extended its slide, falling 15.9 percent as funding and outlook worries continued to dog the British alternative carrier. The group reported year results on Thursday at the bottom end of expectations and announced 500 job cuts as it battled with slowing revenue growth.

Europe's largest computer services firm, Cap Gemini (PCAP), fell 5.3 percent after stating on Thursday that it expected sales to decline more than 10 percent year-on-year and said it did not see growth or a recovery in its operating margin before the middle of 2002.

Among Europe's smaller markets, Amsterdam's AEX index fell 1.4 percent and Milan's MIB30 index slipped 0.4 percent, while the SMI in Zurich dropped 0.7 percent.

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In the U.S. on Friday, markets were mixed in early trading as some strength in select blue chips kept the Dow Jones in the black, while a Federal Reserve probe of J.P. Morgan exacerbated fears of accounting disasters, keeping the Nasdaq composite in check.

The Nasdaq composite index lost 6.9 points, 0.4 percent, to 1,709.34, while the Dow Jones industrial average rose 37.44 points, or 0.4 percent, to 9,872.12.