(Updates with full report)
HELSINKI (AFX) - Helsinki shares closed broadly lower, with investors encouraged to take profits as Wall Street moved into negative territory in early trade, crude continued to rise, and the dollar remained pressured, brokers said.
The OMX Helsinki closed down 1.15 pct at 2,772.21 points and the OMX Helsinki 1.21 pct lower at 9,248.03 points, with turnover at about 1.4 bln eur.
Engineering stocks handed back some of yesterday's sharp gains, with Outokumpu giving up 1.90 pct to 25.30 eur, Metso 1.00 pct to 34.78 eur and Wartsila 0.74 pct to 36.40 eur.
Konecranes, which said it plans to free up capital by selling property in Finland, eased 0.42 pct to 19.19 eur.
Falls for the heavily-traded Nokia, down 1.62 pct to 15.19 eur, and Neste Oil, off 1.66 pct to 24.32 eur, also weighed on the main indices.
Neste Oil said late afternoon it plans to spend 100 mln eur on building a second biodiesel plant in Finland as part of a push to become the world's biggest producer of the fuel.
Kone was among a handful of gainers, adding 0.60 pct to 38.63 eur, after being upgraded to 'overweight' from 'neutral' by JP Morgan.
Sampo also advanced, by 0.74 pct to 19.07 eur, though financial peer OKO fell back 2.33 pct to 12.17 eur.
In the paper sector, UPM-Kymmene lost 1.78 pct to 18.80 eur and Stora Enso slipped 2.73 pct to 11.77 eur.
Stora Enso said this morning it has sold its 5.4 pct stake in shipping group Finnlines for 35.48 mln eur or 16.06 eur per share.
It will book a one-time fourth quarter gain of 33 mln eur on the sale.
The identity of the buyer is still unknown. However Stora Enso has denied that it is Italy's Grimaldi, Finnlines' largest shareholder, which has offered to buy out other shareholders with a 15.95 per share bid.
That offer stands till 4 pm tomorrow.
Finnlines finished 2.36 pct weaker at 16.11 eur. james.etheridge@afxnews.com je/rw COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2006. 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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