With Marconi's profit warning of Wednesday night still ringing in their ears, Europe's technology investors had a second one to contend with yesterday.
ASM Lithography, the Dutch chip equipment maker, expects a first-half net loss of €95 million to €105 million, following a sharp drop in profit at its US unit. Its shares fell 5.3 per cent to €24.20.
ASML is the world's leading manufacturer of steppers and scanners, machines that etch semiconductor circuitry on to silicon wafers.
Alcatel was again the most bruised technology stock among Europe's blue chips. Its shares fell 11.4 per cent to €20.30, their lowest since February 1999.
Highwave Optical, a French optical components maker whose sales come largely from Marconi, fell a further 19 per cent to €6.08, on top of Wednesday's 12 per cent tumble. Other prominent blue chips made substantial losses. Ericsson fell 7.8 per cent to 53 Swedish krona (€5.75) and Nokia was down 5.3 per cent to €24.38. Infineon continued plumbing new depths, falling 2.9 per cent to €26.70. Siemens fell 4.6 per cent to €68.07.
Media stocks struggled, with the European sector index down 2.7 per cent. French advertising groups Havas Advertising and Publicis were hit hard. At one point Havas shares were suspended, having fallen by 10 per cent. They closed 9.3 per cent down at €12.18 and Publicis fell 6 per cent to €27.59.
Vivendi Universal fell 3 per cent to €67.75 and Dutch publisher VNU fell 3.3 per cent to €40.65. JP Morgan trimmed its earnings per share forecast for VNU and for its peer Wolters Kluwer, whose shares inched up 0.1 per cent to €30.94.
