The first of the week's big results from technology companies hit the markets yesterday. Philips Electronics announced a loss for the second quarter and said the third quarter would be up to 10 per cent worse.

The second-quarter net loss was #770 million compared with a net profit of #3.6 billion in the second quarter of last year. The company had already said it would report a significant loss in the second quarter.

For the full year, Philips said it expected to reach break-even or record a small loss before special charges. It announced that it expected to make 3,000-4,000 jobs cuts in its semiconductor unit in the second half of the year, bringing the company total to more than 10,000 this year.

Philips shares clawed back some losses to end 1.9 per cent down at #28.66. But its results dragged down other stocks. Dutch chip equipment maker ASM Lithography, which has first half results out today, fell 6 per cent to #23.34. Nokia and Ericsson, which both produce results this week, were also lower. Nokia was off 2.9 per cent at #20.08 and Ericsson lost 1.9 per cent to 51 Swedish krone. Nokia dipped below #20 at one point for the first time in almost two years.

In the chip sector, STMicroelectronics fell 3.8 per cent to #33.39 and Infineon fell 1.2 per cent to #25.53.

The telecommunications sector also had a bad day, falling about 2.5 per cent on the FTSE Eurotop index. Sonera was the worst hit, down 14.7 per cent to a record low of #5.97 while Equant was down 8.8 per cent to #14.86, also a record low.

In the financial sector, HypoVereinsbank dropped 3.7 per cent to a low for the year of #51.70 on an unofficial report that the bank may have to reduce its 2001 earnings targets after a drop in second quarter earnings.