Although European markets succumbed to broad profit-taking, the FTSE Eurobloc 100 index of core blue chips managed to stay in positive territory. It added 0.1 per cent at 1,197.48. Elsewhere, there was less resilience. The FTSE Eurotop 100 index shed 0.7 per cent at 3,284.21 and the broader FTSE Eurotop 300 index 0.3 per cent at 1,417.00.

Frankfurt fell back, taking the Xetra Dax index down 39.35 at 5,870.17. Mannesmann remained the focus of attention, slipping steeply as investors locked in profits in spite of confident market talk of a formal offer from Britain's Vodafone AirTouch before the end of this week. Best bets among brokers point to a Vodafone offer for Mannesmann of at least €220 a share. The stock, up a dramatic 36 per cent in seven straight days, ended a volatile session off €11.00 or 5.3 per cent at €196.65.

Steel leader Thyssen Krupp, up 12.3 per cent on Tuesday's restructuring news, also ran up against profit-taking. The shares came off 30 cents at €23.40. Paris finished down, bringing to an end its unprecedented 13-day run of record closes. The CAC-40, which has sprinted over 10 per cent higher since October 28th, ended down 12.78 to 5,178.23.

Technical problems delayed the start of trading for more than two hours but volume was still a respectable 3.4 billion.

Amsterdam ended little changed after narrow trading. The AEX index finished off 0.58 at 603.53.

Corus, the name for the newly combined Hoogovens-British Steel group, shot higher on news of inclusion in the MSCI indices. The stock rose 13 cents or 7.6 per cent to €1.85 in active volume of 9.1 million shares. Top brewer Heineken, which dropped out of the indices, fell €2.01 to €46.89.

Helsinki shares powered to a record close, spurred by strong gains for Nokia. The Hex index closed up 441.63 or 4.1 per cent at 10,203.31.

Nokia, the heaviest component of the benchmark index, surged on renewed concerns over rival Ericsson, which confessed to problems raising output of handsets. Analysts said investor enthusiasm for mobile Internet access, a market in which Nokia and Ericsson are positioning themselves as global leaders, had also contributed to Nokia's rise. The shares closed up €6.80 or 5.8 per cent at €123.70.

Milan was hit by heavy losses in telecoms stocks and the Mibtel index finished 88 lower at 23,847.