As the Nasdaq once again got off to a negative start, Europe's tech stocks came under pressure, with the IT sector down 3 per cent. Mobile phone leader Nokia fell 2.8 per cent to €17.94, its lowest level for more than two years, on the back of disappointing figures on its market share.

Nokia's slice of the global pie fell from 35.3 per cent in the first quarter to 34.8 per cent in the second quarter, according to Gartner Dataquest, the research group. Although the fall was slight, it represents a sharp halt to the rapid growth reported last year. In May this year, Nokia said it hoped to reach 40 per cent in the future.

Nokia's rivals increased their market shares according to Gartner. Motorola rose from 13.2 per cent to €14.8 per cent and Ericsson rose from 6.8 per cent to 8.3 per cent. Yesterday Ericsson's share price was down 0.9 per cent, at SKr55.

The picture in telecoms was better, with Equant, the Dutch-based network provider of voice and data services, soaring 11 per cent to €13.10 after second quarter results. Revenues jumped 30 per cent and operating profit was $21.7 million compared with analyst expectations of $12-$15million. But two other Dutch names that are now little more than penny stocks, UPC and Versatel, continued to tumble. UPC fell 12 per cent to €0.43, having been as low as €0.35 at one point, while Versatel lost 11 per cent to €0.73. Investors continue to fear that UPC, Europe's biggest cable firm in terms of subscribers, will have difficulty raising new finance.

Another once-soaring sector, that of internet service providers, continued to ail. T- Online, Europe's biggest ISP, fell 1.5 per cent to €8.18 after results showed its losses widening. Net loss in the second quarter was €144.7 million compared with €121.1 million in the first quarter. French rival Wanadoo, which has been bumping along in the €5-6 range in recent months, compared with its float price of €20, was unchanged yesterday at €5.41, while Terra Networks was down 3 per cent at €8.20.