Telecommunications brighten European markets

In an up day in the European markets, Nokia advanced by 5.8 percent as they issued a first-quarter earnings report that was higher than expected.

Even before this news was announced, other telecommunications companies were up in afternoon trading on Thursday. Ericsson rose 3.5 percent, Alcatel rose 1 percent after being down earlier in the day, France Telecom advanced 2.3 percent, and Telefonica was up 1.5 percent.

Chipmakers also responded to Nokia’s positive report as STMicroelectronics was up 2.9 percent and ASML rose by 1.5 percent.

In the drinks sector, Pernod Ricard was up 7.4 percent on predictions that its takeover of Allied Domecq would give it substantial savings of costs. Allied Domecq was also up, by 3.8 percent.

Automobile makers had a good day as well. Volkswagen, on the strength of a quarterly report that was better than expected, rose 1.8 percent. Fiat was up 4.3 percent, Renault advanced 2.5 percent, and Peugeot was up by 1.8 percent.

By mid-afternoon, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.3 percent to 1,067.76, Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax rose 0.6 percent to 4,203.29, and in Paris the CAC-40 was up 0.5 percent to 3,967.91.

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