But the Paris market rose in early trading. The CAC 40 index was showed a gain of 1.01 per cent, or 65.51 points, mid-morning at 6,579.62 points. The French gains were more closely in tune to developments on the leading international markets, after the US powerhouse surged ahead on Friday. It was news of a slight slowdown in US job creation that eased market fears of another rise in US interest rates and propelled stocks sharply higher.

The Nasdaq electronic exchange soared to yet another record high after its third-steepest point gain ever, while the broader Dow Jones index rose by 1.99 per cent. This, in turn, lifted the Hong Kong share index by 2.7 per cent, mainly on buying of telecoms and technology shares. The London market was left unmoved, with trading dominated by company-specific announcements. The price of British Telecom stock fell by five pence to 1,298 pence on news that AltaVista of the US is to offer unlimited access to the Internet for a one-off charge of about 48 dollars.