Shares in Frankfurt continued to push higher, with a good run for Deutsche Telekom keeping the market pointing upwards in the face of a soft start on Wall Street. Deutsche Telekom found ready takers in robust volumes in the wake of recent weakness. There was obvious relief at the decision by the bourse authorities to delay the switch to free-float valuations within the benchmark indices until the middle of 2002. A move of this kind would reduce by more than half Telekom's market weighting, but tracker funds have plenty of time to adjust their portfolios. The shares bounced a further €2.09 to €48.79 in 10.4 million shares dealt for a two-day advance of 9 per cent.
Positive broker comment continued to drive DaimlerChrysler which gained €1.35 to €62.55, but Volkswagen came off 30 cents at €50.50.
In Paris, France Telecom provided the early action, rising 4.5 per cent to 143.90 after it reported an 18 per cent jump in second-half revenues, above market expectations. But gains dissipated as bidding for German UMTS licences kept rising. France Telecom is bidding via MobilCom, in which it holds a 28.5 per cent stake. It ended 0.2 per cent higher at €138.10.
Amsterdam ended little changed in spite of a 3.3 per cent slide at financial giant Aegon which ended off €1.43 at €41.51 on solid first-half results. Chemicals leader Akzo Nobel fell €1.08 to €47.60 on profit-taking and brewer Heineken came off €1.40 at €63.80. Firm features included KLM, up €1.35 at €31.70, and telecoms leader KPN which put on 4.8 per cent or €1.80 at €39.30.
Zurich fell back in spite of another strong session for chemicals shares. The SMI index ended 42.9 lower at 8,202.8.
Milan ended firm but off session highs as Nasdaq sagged. The Mibtel index rose 0.4 per cent to 32,557.
Madrid outperformed other European markets, with the Ibex 35 index gaining 1.45 per cent to 11,110.6. The market was propelled by Telefonica whose shares rose 4.1 per cent to €24.98 after Mr Fernando Abril-Martorell was appointed to the newly created post of chief executive officer.
