On a dull day for airline stocks, SAir Group fell heavily amid competition worries about Sabena, its Belgian offshoot.
Ryanair plans to use Brussels' Charleroi airport as its base for a drive for continental European traffic. If successful, the move could mean lost market share at Sabena. SAir came off 3.3 per cent at SFr212.75.
DaimlerChrysler traded narrowly in spite of negative comment from brokers following Monday's big set-piece Chrysler presentation.
Earnings downgrades were savage as motor sector analysts grappled with the group's plans for a radical overhaul of its US operations. Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers cut earnings forecasts for 2001 by more than 50 per cent. The shares improved 1.3 per cent to €53.08 in thin trading volume.
ABN Amro fell 0.8 per cent to €24.25 as investors continued to register disappointment with last week's full-year figures. ING Barings cut its price target on the stock to €27.50 from €32 and lowered its earnings estimates for 2001 and 2002. ING firmed 0.2 per cent to €74.86 as the market braced itself for figures tomorrow.
In Germany, Deutsche Bank put on 3.1 per cent to €91.34, continuing its recovery on the view that the recent share price slide had left the issue looking a bargain.
German mobile telecommunications licence winners and the German government are in talks to determine how far they can co-operate to cut the costs of building a 3G infrastructure.
Sonera and Telefonica, whose consortium won a licence, rose 5 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively. KPN, another winner, rose 2.7 per cent, while France Telecom rose 3 per cent.
France Telecom was buoyed by news that it had abandoned its plan to take a majority stake in Poland's main telecoms operator TPSA, saying that market conditions had made the stake too expensive.
TPSA fell 4.1 per cent to 23.20 zlotys. Deutsche Telekom rose 4 per cent to €27.45 in late trading, helped by Gerhard Schroder's supportive comments on Monday but also by an element of technical correction following its long-running falls.
