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Negative brokerage recommendations, profit-taking sap European markets

European stock markets ended the week lower on profit-taking and a string of negative recommendations from brokerages on Friday, dealers said.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares shed 0.42 percent to close at 5,711 points, the DAX in Frankfurt fell 1.07 percent to 5,483.09 points and the Paris CAC 40 slid 0.81 percent to 4,850.53.

The DJ Euro STOXX 50 index of leading eurozone shares was down 1.12 percent at 3,629.25 points.

European share prices hit their highest points this week for around four-and-a-half years on the back of Wall Street's recent rally.

The FTSE 100's Thursday close, at 5,735.1 points, had been the exchange's best finish since June 14, 2001.

But on Friday the London stock market was weighed down by brokerage downgrades on Vodafone, AstraZeneca, Shire Pharmaceuticals and Reed Elsevier.

Telecoms giant Vodafone, the most traded share of the day, lost 0.97 percent to 1.2750; pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca shed 1.40 percent to ?28.15; Shire Pharmaceuticals was off 4.0 percent at ?8.1650; and Reed Elsevier sank 2.10 percent to ?5.35.

Banking stocks, the heavyweights of the Footsie, also fell but mining and oil stocks bucked the trend, profiting from this week's commodity price rises.

In Paris, France Telecom continued to suffer from Wednesday's profit warning, with UBS downgrading the stock to "neutral" from "buy."

The telecoms operator lost 2.16 percent to 19.51 euros.

Telecoms equipment maker Alcatel was also downgraded and fell 1.95 percent to 11.05 euros.

Franco-British train operator Eurotunnel plummeted a massive 12.82 percent to 0.34 euros after saying there was no reason for its spectacular speculation-fuelled share price hike this week.

Energy group EDF, carmaker Renault and catering company Elior were the only gainers on the French blue-chip index. Elior added 2.39 percent to 75 euros after its chairman said he might buy out other shareholders, potentially strengthening Elior's chances of taking over British group SSP, analysts said.

Several corporate heavyweights in Frankfurt also suffered analysts' downgrades.

Insurer Allianz dropped 2.24 percent to 129.63 euros, Siemens lost 1.56 percent to 72.35 euros and Deutsche Bank slid 1.31 percent to 85.64 euros.

Automaker DaimlerChrysler slipped 1.47 percent to 45.06 euros. But the biggest loser of the day was car parts maker Continental, which lost 2.34 percent at 77.05 euros.

Other European markets ended mostly lower. The Brussels BEL 20 fell 0.11 percent to 3,672.04 points, Amsterdam's AEX fell 1.35 percent to 441.37, Milan's SP/MIB fell 1.08 percent to 36,265 and Madrid's IBEX 35 fell 0.96 percent to 10,850.7. The Swiss Market Index closed slightly up at 0.06 percent at 7,802.5 points.

On Wall Street the main indexes were nearly flat in mid-afternoon trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.01 percent at 10,961.14 points and the NASDAQ composite down 0.08 percent at 2,314.84. The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index edged up 0.04 point to 1,286.10.

In Asia, Tokyo's benchmark NIKKEI-225 index ended up 0.50 percent at 16,445.19 points, the best close since Sept. 20, 2000.

Hong Kong's key Hang Seng Index closed up 0.44 percent at 15,719.37 points.
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