LONDON, July 25: Europe's main stock markets mainly dropped on Wednesday amid a fresh batch of corporate results and after more heavy falls on Wall Street that were linked to US economic concerns, dealers said.
However, the London market was lifted after British life insurance groups Friends Provident and Resolution said they had agreed to merge, creating a new firm worth 8.6 billion pounds (12.8 billion euros, 17.7 billion dollars).
In Frankfurt the DAX 30 lost 0.93 per cent to 7,734.40 and the Paris CAC 40 slid 0.39 per cent to 5,884.54 points.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares shed 0.48 per cent to 4,390.82. The euro stood at 1.3731 dollars.
US stocks went into a tailspin on Tuesday as heightened fears about the housing slump after a bleak warning from a key mortgage lender prompted investors to run for cover.
Global equity markets are on edge over the troubled US housing market, according to Barclays Capital analyst Henk Potts, who said there was concern in investors' minds that we could start to see US sub-prime starting to effect consumer confidence and consumer spending. European trade on Wednesday was dominated by company earnings news.
In Paris, shares in Peugeot fell 1.81 per cent to 64.4 euros amid disappointment at the company's outlook for the second half of 2007. The French carmaker announced a 60.8-per cent leap in first-half net profit, but said it sees second-half sales rising only slightly from a year earlier.
In Frankfurt, Infineon shares fell 0.95 per cent to 12.51 euros after the German chipmaker's US unit Qimonda AG posted much deeper losses than expected.
Merck saw its shares fall 0.91 per cent to 96.65 euros after the German pharmaceutical giant revealed better-than-expected net profit in the second quarter, but largely came in lower than expected on all other figures.
In London, the financial sector was also in focus after Resolution and Friends Provident said they would merge, forming a new life insurance group called Friends Financial.
Friends Provident saw its stock climb 0.41 per cent to 197.3 pence, while Resolution's share price sank 2.54 per cent to 615 pence. The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index retreated 1.98 per cent to 1,511.04 points.—AFP