LONDON (CNN) - Europe's major bourses closed higher Tuesday as techs were boosted by bullish statements from U.S. bellwether Oracle.
The U.S. software maker reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit that beat Wall
Street's expectations on sales that came in slightly below estimates.
The world's second-largest software company, Oracle (ORCL: Research, Estimates) said it expects to meet earnings expectations for the current quarter, providing an upbeat outlook for the company moving forward.
Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax climbed 0.9 percent to 5,919.80. SAP (FSAP), Europe's biggest software company, topped the leader board, climbing 7.5 percent.
Communications and engineering conglomerate Siemens (FSIE) was up 2.3 percent.
London's FTSE 100 ended 0.2 percent higher at 5,683.7, with software company Logica (LOG) up 3.3 percent. IT services company Dimension Data (DDT) rose 4.8 percent.
But rival Misys (MYS) fell 5.5 percent after agreeing to buy financial advisor DBS Management (DBM) for £75 million ($105 million).
In Paris, the CAC 40 blue chip index gained 0.8 percent to 5,199.41, consumer electronics company Thomson Multimedia (PHO) topped the gainers, rising 3.6 percent.
Information technology consultant Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (PCAP) ended up 2.7 percent.
ST Microelectronics (PSTM), Europe's biggest chip maker, rose 0.7 percent. Finland's Nokia advanced 0.9 percent.
Sweden's Ericsson broke even after an earlier rise following its signing of an agreement with Hutchison Telecom to provide high-speed mobile phone networks in Australia in a $435 million deal.
In Amsterdam, the AEX index was down 0.5 percent as the world's biggest supplier of equipment to make semiconductors, ASM Lithography, also dropped 0.5 percent.
Shares in luxury goods maker Gucci fell 5.3 percent after earlier dropping more than 10 percent after posting lower-than-expected first-quarter profits and warning 2001 sales and earnings will miss targets. French rival LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (PMC) was down 0.6 percent.
The SMI in Zurich fell 0.7 percent. Shares in drug marker Novartis, the biggest stock in terms of capitalization on the SMI, fell 7.2 percent after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided not to approve its drug for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.
Milan's MIB30 index rose 0.4 percent.
The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was up 0.5 percent, with the computer services sector up 4.5 percent.
However, market watchers said the worst for the markets wasn't over yet. John Butler at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein told CNN: "The profit warning cycle is not over yet. There is no stabilization for corporate earnings."
To underline his point, Europe's biggest airline, Lufthansa (FLHA), fell 3.6 percent after AMR Corp, the parent of America Airlines, said it expects to report a second-quarter loss of $100 million as fuel costs soar and the sluggish U.S. economy begins to have an impact on earnings.
Early gains in the Dow Jones industrial average eroded Tuesday morning in the U.S. as investors bailed out of aerospace issues. Approaching midday, the Dow stood at 10,621.96, down 23.42.
The Nasdaq composite index remained higher, although off its day's peak, on the afterglow of Oracle's earnings forecast late Monday. The tech-laden indicator rose 32.49 to 2,021.12; it rose as much as 68 points before stepping back.
In the currency market, the euro fell against the U.S. dollar, fetching 85.58 U.S. cents compared with 86.06 in late New York trading on Monday. 
|
