Utilities bounced back after a period in the doldrums, rising to the top of the sector performance charts with gas up 3.9 per cent and water 2.9 per cent. Packaging, one of the leading sectors in April, lost almost 1 per cent to weigh in as backmarker yesterday.

The FTSE Eurotop 100 index ended down 10.05 at 2,999.69 while the FTSE Eurotop 300 index lost 5.09 at 1,301.69. The FTSE Eurobloc 100 index came off 5.75 at 1,068.41.

Frankfurt pared early gains to close with the Xetra Dax index 100 points adrift of its high for the session, down 19.65 at 5,275.57.

Insurers were notably weak. Munich Re lost 7 at 184 and Allianz came off 8.25 at 286. In the motor sector, BMW gave up 17 at 678.

Bank shares, heavily sold on Wednesday in spite of solid profits news from the sector, rebounded against the broad trend amid broker optimism. In Paris Carrefour fell 4 to 122.50 after sales figures for April came in on the low side of expectations. Insurer Axa also lost more than 3 per cent, dropping 3.60 to 116.30. Selected media stocks were firm following upbeat first-quarter sales data from Publicis.

Amsterdam was led lower by weak financials, which overshadowed good gains for Royal Dutch. Both Aegon and ING tumbled more than 4 per cent as the sellers moved heavily against the sector.

Zurich gave up early gains after a brief foray above resistance at 7,350 on the SMI index proved unsustainable. The market closed with a loss of 48.9 at 7,234.9. Swiss Re, an early winner in pre-bourse trade, finished SFr82 lower at SFr3,280 in spite of reporting a rise in 1998 net profit and pledging that it would propose a higher dividend.

Milan edged lower, weighed down by Wall Street's weak opening, after a busy day for Fiat and the banking sector. The Mibtel index fell 37 to 24,910. Fiat put on 2.9 per cent to 3.28 on speculation that Gianni Agnelli, honorary chairman, may have discussed a possible industrial accord during a meeting on Wednesday with Massimo D'Alema, the prime minister.