Tech, oil stocks push Europe lower

A trader check share prices at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

LONDON, England (CNN) -- European markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday, with declines in the tech and oil sectors outweighing gains in drug and bank stocks.

London's FTSE 100 rose 0.5 percent to 5,218.2, while the CAC 40 blue chip index in Paris lost 0.8 percent to 4,528. Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax was down 0.5 percent to 5,164.51 in late trading (the German market was set to close at 1900 GMT).

The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, lost 0.4 percent. Leading the declines were the information technology and media sectors, while pharmaceutical and financial stocks were the top gainers.

"We've entered a lull again, with tech issues drifting lower on the back of the slowdown in mobile sales," Richard Champion, a European fund manager at MGM Assurance, told Reuters.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Europe's biggest drug company, ended up 2.1 percent -- off its highs for the session -- after it said first-quarter profit rose almost 49 percent on soaring demand for asthma drug Advair in the U.S.

Franco-German drugmaker Aventis (PAVE) climbed 1.2 percent in Paris, with its shares also off their session highs.

Switzerland's ABB, Europe's biggest engineering company, rose 5.6 percent in Zurich after it announced first-quarter net profit fell 17 percent to $114 million but said it remained confident it could hit its 2002 targets.

In the financial sector, Barlcays (BARC) jumped 6.3 percent in London ahead of its annual general meeting on Thursday, while Royal Bank of Scotland (RBOS) rose almost 4 percent after investment bank Morgan Stanley raised its share price target. Germany's Commerzbank (FCBK) was up about 1 percent in late trading in Frankfurt.

In the auto sector, DaimlerChrysler (FDCX), the world's third largest carmaker, was up 1.3 percent -- off its highs for the session -- in late trading. The company reports its results on Thursday. French automaker Renault (PRNO) climbed 1.3 percent in Paris after saying first quarter sales rose 2.4 percent, while like-for-like sales rose 5.3 percent to 9.285 billion euros.

French drugs maker Sanofi-Synthelabo (PSAN) rose 1.9 percent after it reported a 15.4 percent like-for-like rise in first quarter sales. It also reaffirmed its target for a 25 percent jump in 2002 net pre-exceptional profit.

In the media sector, Vivendi Universal (PEX) fell 2.2 percent as Chief Executive Jean-Marie Messier faced a stormy shareholders meeting in Paris after he fired Pierre Lescure, the head of French broadcaster Canal Plus, last week.

Earlier, the company posted a higher than expected rise in first quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation -- thanks to strong gains in its telecoms and film business.

In Amsterdam the AEX index fell 1.1 percent and the SMI in Zurich slipped 0.1 percent, while Milan's MIB30 index was flat.

In the U.S. on Wednesday, the Nasdaq received a boost from Amazon.com and Expedia, both of which delivered quarterly results that topped forecasts. The Dow Jones also turned higher as investors bought up shares Johnson & Johnson, Caterpillar and Procter & Gamble following two straight declines.

At midday, the Nasdaq composite index was up 11.64 points to 1,741.94, while the Dow Jones industrial average rose 38.83 to 10,128.06.