Eurofirst falls on profit reports concerns

Weakness in the technology sector send the FTSE Eurofirst 300 0.9 percent lower on Tuesday, to close at 1,309.06. There were serious investor concerns as fears surfaced that quarterly reports could be disappointing.

French engineering group Alstom reported first-quarter sales figures that did not satisfy, while it warned that an increase in orders during the quarter will not be likely to be sustained all year. Shares in Alstom lost 3.5 percent to €66.95.

Among tech companies, Alcatel dropped 5.9 percent to €9.20 despite saying that preliminary quarterly numbers are about where they were expected to be and that its merger with Lucent Technologies would be closed by the end of the year. While Citigroup retained its “buy” recommendation for Alcatel, Dresdner Kleinwort retained a “sell” recommendation and a target share price of €8.60. Elsewhere, Nokia fell 2 percent to €15.14 and Ericsson declined by 3.4 percent to SKr22.60.

Phillips Electronics was down 3.8 percent to €23.06 ahead of its quarterly report, due next Monday.

ASML declined by 2 percent to €15.13 as the semiconductor sector saw losses. STMicroelectronics dropped 2.4 percent to €11.91, while Infineon was down by 2.8 percent to €8.73.

Among gainers on the day, drugmaker Roche ended the session 0.2 percent higher to SFr207.60, and went as high as SFr211, as UBS increased its target share price from SFr230 to SFr270, citing its potential for expansion.

Automobile manufacturer Fiat added 1.7 percent to €10.85 as Goldman Sachs issued a “buy” rating as it resumed coverage of the carmaker.

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