October 13, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 30, 1428

LONDON, Oct 12: Europe’s main stock markets fell Friday on profit-taking before the weekend break, mirroring overnight falls on Wall Street and earlier in Asia, analysts said.

London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares sank 0.63 per cent to 6,682.20 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 lost 0.48 per cent to 7,995.40 points and in Paris the CAC 40 tumbled 1.16 per cent to 5,795.11.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares shed 0.68 per cent to 4,443.25 points.

The euro stood at 1.4182 dollars.

It’s a bit of a respite after what has been a good week overall, said Howard Wheeldon, strategist at BGC Partners, adding that European markets appeared to be taking their cue from the overnight pullback on Wall Street.

The markets are in a nomadic mood. They are just following each other.Wall Street had closed lower Thursday after earlier notching up intraday record highs as investors opted to cash in some profits, traders said.

In Paris, French building materials group Saint-Gobain led the fallers on the CAC 40.

The company’s share price dived 3.12 per cent to 72.58 euros after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘outperform,’ citing its lack of exposure to emerging markets.

The airline sector also flew into focus after Irish low-cost airline Ryanair lodged Thursday a formal complaint with the European Commission over recent fuel surcharge increases from Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and Swiss.

Lufthansa, which owns Swiss, and Air France have both denied the allegation but saw their share prices dive on Friday.

In Frankfurt, Lufthansa stock fell 1.98 per cent to 21.29 euros, while Air France-KLM shares sank 1.51 per cent to 27.96 euros in Paris.

London share prices, meanwhile, were dragged lower by the mining sector, as investors cashed in recent gains.---AFP