London: European stock markets had a mixed start to the week on Monday as investors awaited fresh leads from Wall Street after last week's turbulence on the US markets. The Dax index dropped 0.76 per cent to 6,567.80 points in Frankfurt. Paris followed, with the CAC 40 index falling 0.25 per cent to 6,134.1 points. Only the London market advanced, with the FTSE index of 100 leading shares up 0.4 per cent at 6,301.2 points. The euro bought 0.8407 dollars. Sentiment was buoyed slightly in initial trading by gains on the US markets Friday, when the Nasdaq added 1.89 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.82 per cent.The Asian markets provided no clear lead. The Hang Seng index closed up 0.4 per cent in Hong Kong, but the Nikkei-225 shed 0.7 per cent in Tokyo after the collapse of Kyoei Life Insurance Friday.
In London, Railtrack jumped seven percent to 1,123.5 pence after the British rail regulator announced a five-year grant of 4.7 billion pounds for the company to spend on improving the country's rail infrastructure. BG leapt 13.1 per cent to 285 pence on the first day of trading after it demerged its Lattice subsidary, which comprises the Transco pipeline business and a fledgling telecoms operation.
In a second London demerger, Shipping group P&O added 6.5 per cent to 246 pence after spinning off its main operations into a separate company, P&O Princess Cruises, which fell 9.9 per cent to 290 pence on its first day of trading.
Mining group Billiton climbed 4.1 per cent to 260.5 pence after announcing plans to build an electronic commodities marketplace with fellow mining outfits Anglo American, Rio Tinto, Glencore International and Accel-KKR.
Among German issues, software giant SAP climbed 0.7 per cent to 218.10 euros. But semi-conductor maker Infineon shed 1.3 per cent to 48.75 euros, while electronics components maker Epcos dropped 0.65 per cent to 88.50 euros.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.