Danish blue-chip shares down

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -- Danish blue-chip shares closed lower on Thursday, hit by profit-taking after recent advances and echoing general European falls in the technology and telecoms sectors. Dealers saw profit-taking and more moderate falls ahead on Friday, with the volatile U.S. market seen affecting trends.

As Copenhagen closed both the Dow Jones and the technology-laden Nasdaq were down. The KFX top-20 index fell 1.31 percent to 306.21 in blue chip turnover of 1.7 billion crowns($206 million), with the KFX August future dropping seven points to 303.00. Main constituent Tele Danmark continued to slip, closing 19 crowns or 3.8 percent down at 470 crowns, with the Dow Jones EuroStoxx telecoms index 1.99 percent off. Electronics firm GN Store Nord was the day's busiest blue chip, shedding 30 crowns to 950 crowns, followed by windpower firm Vestas which slumped 23 crowns to 345 crowns on profit-taking.

Security firm Group 4 Falck sank 15 to 1,240 crowns on a negative rub-off of Swedish rival Securitas's bumper H1 results and announcement of a major U.S. acquisition. On the positive side, bio-tech firm Novo Nordisk put on 10 crowns to 1,655 crowns after securing a Carnegie upgrading.

Off the KFX index, insurer Codan plummeted 25 crowns to 510 crowns after announcing a drop in first-half net profit and reducing full year profit expectations.

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