HELSINKI (AFX) - Helsinki shares were lower in midday trade, extending Friday's falls on renewed profit-taking, with generally weak sentiment seeing Outokumpu hand back early gains after pricing the IPO of its technology arm, dealers said.
At 12.26 pm, the OMX Helsinki 25 was 0.64 pct lower at 2,516.76 points and the OMX Helsinki was down 0.31 pct to 8,588.58 points, on 215 mln eur turnover. The HEX Tech was up 0.34 pct at 1,061.65 points.
Outokumpu was unchanged from Friday's closing price of 19.33 and off an early high of 19.66 eur as sentiment in the broad market turned negative after the open, dealers said.
The group has priced the IPO of its technology unit, scheduled for the middle of next month, at between 12.00-15.50 eur per share on 33.6 mln shares -- about 80 pct of the unit's share capital.
This gives the unit a market cap of 504-651 mln eur.
'That is a large range and is tilted to the downside (of previous expectations),' FIM Securities Jarkko Soikkeli said, adding that it will look fairly attractive at the low-end of the range.
Outokumpu shares were also upgraded by ABN Amro this morning --prior to news of the IPO pricing-- to 'add' from 'hold' on valuation grounds, with a slightly raised target price of 22.50 eur.
Among other industrials, Rautaruukki was off 1.99 pct to 21.69 eur, Metso was down 1.09 pct to 28.18 eur and Wartsila 1.60 pct weaker at 30.70 eur.
Nokia was outperforming the broader market, adding 0.46 pct to 15.20 eur.
The group is planning to unveil new N-series handsets at its Open Studio event in New York tomorrow, including a model that it hopes will be a strong contender to slimline handsets on offer by rival Motorola, dealers were saying today.
Separately, the group today reiterated expectations that it will sell 80 mln music-enabled devices this year.
In telecoms, TeliaSonera was down 0.40 pct to 5.00 eur after being downgraded to 'hold' from 'buy' by Deutsche Bank on valuation grounds, dealers said.
Peer Elisa was up 0.72 pct to 16.90 eur.
Paper stocks were mixed too, with UPM-Kymmene down 1.62 pct to 18.20 eur, Stora Enso 1.60 pct lighter at 11.71 eur as and M-real B shares up 0.52 pct to 3.90 eur.
Neste Oil gave up 2.23 pct to 21.51 eur, extending recent losses as oil dropped below 60 usd to hit its lowest levels since early March, brokers said.
Elsewhere, utility Fortum lost 0.15 pct to 20.03 eur, while Sampo bank shed 0.25 pct to 16.06 eur. james.etheridge@afxnews.com je/jlw COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2005. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
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