Euroshares open flat after Dow losses, Alcatel warning weighs

Euroshares open flat after Dow losses, Alcatel warning weighs

	Published : Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:52 By : Agencies Print this Story

LONDON (AFX) - Europe's largest exchanges were flat in opening deals after losses on Wall St after Alcatel warned its full year sales would be lower than a year earlier but broker upgrades lifted selected other heavyweights, dealers said.

At 08.24, the STOXX 50 was up 3.4 points at 3,760.4 and the STOXX 600 was down 0.02 points at 372.78.

Last night, the DJIA fell 88.37, or 0.70 pct, to 12,477.16 -- the biggest one-day drop since Nov 27. And the Nasdaq lost 20.24, or 0.83 pct amid growing concerns over technology companies ahead of a new wave of earnings reports in the sector this week.

In Asia, the Nikkei closed down 15.61 points at 17,408.57 and the Hang Seng ended the morning down 123.40 points at 20,648.82.

And oil prices continued lower in Asian trade adding to falls in the US last night.

Shares in Alcatel-Lucent fell 9.77 pct after the newly merged telecoms group said it sees sales in the fourth quarter falling on a pro-forma level and forecast operating margins below consensus expectations, dealers said.

'All in all this is very negative for sentiment after the recent upswing in the stock, as hopes of quick merger successes are dampened,' said a dealer at a major US brokerage.

Ericsson fell 0.88 pct as Alcatel blamed customer delays, US problems and increased mobile competition, as well as merger costs for the falls.

And LogicCMG fell 5.2 pct as Credit Suisse said its trading update was below market expectations.

Organic growth rate at constant currency for the IT Services business is seen at slightly below 5 pct, missing guidance and consensus expectation of 5.5-6 pct, the broker said.

But SAP added 1.14 pct as Morgan Stanley upgraded the shares to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight'.

deborah.hyde@afxnews.com

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