London: European technology shares rallied on Monday with investors unafraid of the party being spoiled by New York's volatile Nasdaq market, which was closed for a holiday. Trade was, however, subdued with both British and US stock markets closed for public holidays and traders said there was relief that European high-tech stocks would not have to track technology bellwether Nasdaq later in the day."When New York is closed we go up, there's nothing scientific about it, it's simply a fact," one French trader said. Top Euro bluechip gainer in early afternoon trade was French telecoms equipment firm Alcatel, up 5.35 per cent. The European technology sector rose almost three per cent.
French "new economy" stocks seized their chance to recover from recent losses tied to Nasdaq's erratic performance. The Paris CAC-40 was helped up by prospects indexheavyweight France Telecom will announce on Tuesday its acquisition of Britain's mobile telephone operator Orange from Vodafone AirTouch.
France Telecom surged four per cent at the open but gave up its gains as some analysts expressed concern over what could be a pricey acquisition. The telecom sector performed well overall, with network services provider Equant up 6.6 per cent as the stock recovered from a brutal setback earlier this month following disappointing earnings. Frankfurt dealers said trade was slack with technology and telecommunications stocks remaining the favourites. "They are the most traded stocks and if the market is going up, they go up and if the market comes off they go down," one trader said.
Shares in German Internet service provider T-Online gained more than three per cent on a newspaper report it may launch a bid for Britain's Freeserve Plc to expand further in Europe. T-Online, the world's second-largest ISP after AmericaOnline, and Freeserve declined to comment on the Sunday Times report and T-Online shares fell back. Japan set the trend for European bourses with stocks rebounding from a one-year closing low as the US holiday encouraged investors to buy selected high-tech stocks without worrying about Nasdaq volatility.
"Investors feel quite comfortable thanks to the US holiday," said Masayoshi Okamoto, a trader at Jujiya Securities. However, most investors believe Tokyo stocks, especially high-techs, will remain hostage to fluctuations in US markets when Wall Street reopens. Among Europe's other telecoms climbers on Monday were Finland's Nokia up 4.72 per cent, Telecom Italia up 4.66 per cent and Dutch group KPN up 4.30. Telecom Italia gained as the market showed relief the company will have to spend only 2.4 billion euros for its cash bid for Seat, Italy's biggest portal operator.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.