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Europe ends low on gloomy outlooks
LONDON, England (CNN) -- European markets ended lower on Wednesday after Corus called off a takeover and Cable & Wireless said it was retreating from global markets. London's FTSE 100 was down 1.2 percent to 4,034.4 and the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris fell 1 percent to 3,034.8, while Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax lost 1.5 percent to 3,070.4 in late trading (the German markets were set to close at 1900 GMT). The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was down 0.7 percent with the steel sector leading the loser board. Steel stocks sank after Anglo-Dutch group Corus said it was dropping plans to merge with a Brazilian rival and warned that a recovery in the market would be slower than expected. (Full story) Corus (CS) was down 27.3 percent to 38 pence, while German steel and engineering group ThyssenKrupp [FTE:FTKA] fell 3.5 percent to 10.19 euros. UK telecoms group Cable & Wireless (CW) plunged 37 percent to 80.25 pence after it said it would slash about 3,500 jobs as it retreats from U.S. and continental European markets. (Full story) Other telecoms were caught in the negative reaction to the C&W announcement. Deutsche Telekom (FDTE), which reports its results on Thursday, lost 1.6 percent to 11.28 euros, while France Telecom [PFTE] fell 0.25 percent to 12 euros and its mobile unit Orange [PORA] slipped 0.3 percent to 6.16 euros. Alcatel, the French telecoms equipment maker, lost 2.4 percent to 2.84 euros and Germany's Infineon Technologies, Europe's biggest chip maker, dropped 5 percent to 8.1 euros. Siemens (FSEI), the German electronics and engineering giant, was down 3.6 percent to 43.02 euros after posting a rise in its full-year profit but warning the coming year would be difficult as sales decline in a tough market. (Full year) France's Vivendi Universal fell 5 percent to 12 euros -- a one-month low -- after reports its pay-TV unit Canal Plus had offered 480 million euros for French soccer broadcasting rights. French insurer Axa, Europe's second-biggest insurer, dropped 1.7 percent to 12.6 euros after posting lower-than-expected third-quarter revenues on Tuesday and saying it may not meet its full-year profit target. Germany's Munich Re, the No. 1 reinsurer, fell 2.4 percent to 120.8 euros. The AEX index in Amsterdam was down 0.6 percent, the SMI in Zurich and Milan's MIB30 index both lost 0.5 percent. In the U.S. on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's comments before a Congressional panel accelerated an early stock slide. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 72.89 to 8313.11, the Nasdaq composite fell 12.16 percent to 1337.40, and the Standard & Poor's 500 lost 9.64 percent to 873.31.
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