Frankfurt DAX: 5897.44 (-17.69)

German shares slipped on profit-taking and a near 8 per cent fall by Veba weighed heavily on the index. Veba fell after the company's chief executive said it would be difficult for the group to achieve 10 per cent profit growth in 1998 and 1999. Herlitz fell 9.4 per cent after announcing a major rationalisation programme.

Paris CAC-40: 4203.45 (-44.79)

A day of routine profit-taking took French stocks to near the session lows, despite a brief flurry of activity following news of the US missile attack on Iraq in midafternoon.

Volume was well up as derivatives expired and was also boosted as institutional investors squared their end-quarter portfolios.

Milan Mibtel: 22827 (-136)

The Italian market closed lower in skimpy trading as Wall Street headed lower. The missile attack in Iraq and the introduction of capital gains tax combined to weigh on the market, but the Iraq attack also had the effect of boosting oil stocks like ENI.