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Europe ends in deep rut
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March 12, 2001: 1:14 p.m. ET
Bourses bleed as investors unload techs and telecoms
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LONDON (CNN) - European markets sustained heavy losses on Monday as investors dumped ailing technology, bank and telecom stocks.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 ended down 90.1 points, or 1.5 percent, at a 2-year low of 5,826.5, dragged lower by sharp losses in leading insurer Prudential after the company unveiled plans to merge with American General in $26.5 billion deal.
London's primary technology sub-index, Techmark, saw 3.5 percent of its value spontaneously dissolve as investors, rattled by weakness on the tech-laced U.S. Nasdaq, rushed the exits.
Information technology stocks on the pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, meanwhile, lopped off almost 10 percent of their value, hit by U.S. market tremors and a distaste for telecoms.
 In Paris, the CAC 40 plumbed similar depths, finishing down 2.4 percent at 5,242.40, its lowest level since Nov. 24, 1999. The fall was led by a trio of high-tech bellwethers – telecom equipment maker Alcatel (PCGE), semiconductor maker STMicroelectronics (PSTM) and software company Dassault Systemes (PDSY), Alcatel shed 7.7 percent, STMicroelectronics sank 6.9 percent, and Dassault Systemes shaved 8.3 percent.
Helsinki's HEX index tumbled 6 percent to 7,902.69, dented by heavy losses in Nokia, the world's largest telephone handset maker and by far the index's weightiest component. Nokia finished 9.5 percent lower, at 23.4 euros.
Amsterdam shed 2 percent, Milan gave up 2.7 percent, and Stockholm, home market to Nokia archrival Ericsson, plunged 6.4 percent. Ericsson suffered an almost 20 percent freefall after the company issued a first-quarter profit warning.
Germany's electronic Xetra Dax was off more than 2 percent in late afternoon trade, driven lower by big losses in Europe's biggest software maker, SAP (FSAP3). Deutsche Telekom (FDTE) lost 4.4 percent, and chip maker Infineon Technologies (FIFX) gave up 4.3 percent.
 In London, the worst damage of the day was sustained outside the tech sector. Insurer Prudential (PRU) clocked up by far the biggest losses, plummeting 14 percent as traders took a dim view of news that the company had agreed to merge with U.S. insurer American General in a $26.5 billion deal that some saw as too costly.
Dragging on Amsterdam were losses of 6.2 percent in chip equipment maker ASM Lithography and a 5-percent drop in the value of index giant Philips Electronics.
In the U.S. on Monday, the Nasdaq Composite index extended previous losses, tumbling below the psychologically significant 2,000 mark for the first time in 27 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped almost 2 percent.
Among other big tech decliners in Europe on Monday, the U.K.'s largest telecom equipment maker Marconi (MONI) sank 7 percent to 481 pence.
Telecom operators also took major hits, with Colt Telecom (CTM), which operates a data network, swooning 6.9 percent to 1,147 pence in London and France Telecom (PFTM) losing 4.4 percent.
Shares in U.K. engineering firm Smiths Group (SMIN) ended off 1.5 percent, at 664 pence, after reports that it had been forced to shelve the planned £900 million ($1.3 billion) sale of its automotive division.
German electronics company Siemens (FSIE) shed 4.7 percent to 120.1 euros in Frankfurt, after the company said it was considering a further postponement of an already delayed IPO of its Unisphere unit. 
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