European stocks drop despite strong results
European stock markets fell, with London hit by profit-taking in the mining sector, offsetting strong company earnings and renewed takeover activity.
The British capital's FTSE 100 index of leading shares eased 0.17 percent to 5,954.80 points in afternoon deals. The FTSE has in its sights 6,000 points, a level last reached in March 2001.
In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 dropped 0.31 percent to 5,879.97 points and in Paris the CAC 40 slid 0.29 percent to 5,112.98 points.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares decreased 0.42 percent to 3,826.15 points.
The euro stood at 1.2069 dollars.
Wall Street's key indexes had jumped to fresh multi-year highs on Wednesday as sentiment got a lift from a Federal Reserve report showing the economy growing at a steady pace with few inflationary pressures, dealers said.
In Asia on Thursday, Japanese share prices closed strongly lower as investors banked profits.
In London, heavyweight miner Antofagasta shed 2.28 percent to 2,018 pence and its rival Kazakhmys slid 2.84 percent to 958 pence.
Corus topped the FTSE 100 after the Anglo-Dutch steel maker announced plans to sell most of its aluminium operations for 826 million euros (996 million dollars).
The group, which rejoined the leading index on Wednesday, saw its shares jump 6.23 percent to 81 pence after posting also a slight rise in full-year profits. At one point the share price hit 81.75 pence, the highest level for more than three years.
Elsewhere, the second-biggest British insurance group Prudential gained 1.98 percent to 617 pence after announcing a 33-percent rise in annual pretax operating profit to 1.712 billion pounds (2.481 billion euros, 2.992 billion dollars).
British mobile phone giant Vodafone meanwhile won 1.77 percent to 129.25 pence on hopes of a bidding war for its Japanese operations, dealers said.
Over in Paris, GDF jumped 2.84 percent to 30.37 euros after the French state-controlled gas utility group posted a 29.0-percent rise in annual net profit.
GDF, involved in a controversial plan to absorb rival Suez, said it had made a record net profit of 1.743 billion euros last year.
In New York on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit its best closing level since May 2001, rising 0.52 percent to 11,209.77 points.
The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index climbed 0.43 percent to 1,303.02 points. The last time the index closed above 1,300 was on May 22, 2001.
The tech-dominated Nasdaq composite, meanwhile, advanced 0.69 percent to 2,311.84, its best close since mid-January.
On Thursday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index closed 1.37 percent lower to 16,096.21 points. Dealers said that market sentiment was dampened by growing concern that the Bank of Japan may not keep interest rates near zero for long after recently ending its super-loose monetary policy.
Hong Kong's key Hang Seng index closed flat, edging up just 8.68 points to 15,729.04.
AFP
