Banks, techs and telecoms drive gains
By Ivar M Simensen, FTMarketWatch.com
Published: January 17 2002 08:57 | Last Updated: January 17 2002 17:49
news.ft.com
Strong gains in banking, technology and telecom shares enabled European markets to notch up gains on Thursday.
German banking stocks led gainers after Munich Re, the reinsurer, said it had increased its stake in Commerzbank to 10.4 per cent, raising expectations for more consolidation in the European banking industry.
Shares of Commerzbank jumped more than 9.1 per cent and rival bank Hypovereinsbank added 6.7 per cent. Munich Re was 1.5 per cent stronger.
Tech stocks got a boost from better than expected earnings in New York last night and investors also saw signs of encouragement in a business update from Siemens, the German conglomerate.
Siemens rose 4.1 per cent, Nokia, the Finnish telecom equipment maker, added 1.8 per cent and Ericsson, the Swedish rival, gained 2 per cent.
Together with support from telecoms and banks, markets finished firmly higher. However, a late dip in trading as the Nasdaq fell back took the shine off the performance of many stocks, particularly in the tech arena.
On the benchmark indices, Frankfurt's DAX 30 was 2.4 per cent higher as it headed to the close while in Paris, the CAC 40 added 1.1 per cent. London's FTSE 100 slipped under a bout of profit-taking in late trade to finish only 0.2 per cent higher.
Telecom operators were also firmer, Deutsche Telekom rose 3.5 per cent after it reported strong subscriber growth in 2001. |
