(adds full report)
PARIS (AFX) - Paris shares closed mostly lower as investors shunned Wall Street's upward bounce to focus on the drop reported for February in the Chicago purchasing managers' index, dealers said.
The CAC-40 index closed down 72.07 points, or 1.29 pct, at 5,516.32 on very heavy volume of 11.2 bln eur.
On the Matif, March CAC-40 futures were trading down 81.5 points, or 1.46 pct, at 5,511.0
Among broader indices, the SBF-80 was down 31.57 points, or 0.4 pct, to 6,819.77, and the SBF-120 was down 47.73 points, or 1.17 pct, at 4,040.30.
The euro was trading at 1.3217 usd, against 1.3249 late yesterday.
Shares of EADS turned volatile with large price swings after its troubled Airbus unit announced details of a long-awaited restructuring, but investors progressively warmed to the news and by the end of the session EADS was among the day's few big gainers, closing up 0.46 eur or 1.81 pct at 25.91.
Airbus confirmed it will cut 10,000 jobs, shift aircraft production lines and seek partners for some facilities that it may sell in the long run.
It will have a 680 mln eur provision in the first quarter in connection with the job cuts, and a senior official said this means there will be no provision in the full-year 2006 results.
Carrefour led the eight gainers in the CAC-40 by a wide margin, however, as talk of a potential leveraged buyout by a private equity fund spurred buying. It closed with a gain of 2.00 eur, or 4.13 pct, at 50.48.
As most stocks extended their declines of yesterday on the back of the Chicago purchasers' news, market heavyweight Total closed down 1.38 eur, or 2.63 pct, at 51.02. Standard & Poor's issued a bearish report yesterday on oil sector prospects amid nationalisations.
Second-liner CGG Veritas, formerly Geophysique, closed down 2.88 eur, or 1.81 pct, at 156.00.
Air Liquide slipped 4.43 eur, or 2.49 pct, to close at 173.27. In a newspaper interview today, its chief executive signalled acquisition opportunities are dwindling and the company will focus on organic growth.
Banks and insurers underperformed, which dealers said reflected the jolt to world share prices since yesterday. Axa dropped 0.79 eur, or 2.40 pct, to 32.16, and Credit Agricole closed down 0.58 eur or 1.89 pct at 30.16.
Dexia, which is due to report full year results tomorrow, finished 0.38 eur, or 1.67 pct, lower at 22.31.
Bouygues shares closed with only a slight decline of 0.08 eur, or 0.15 pct, at 52.70, after it reported full-year 2006 results in line with consensus and issued an upbeat outlook for 2007.
'The numbers were fine and the guidance for 2007 was very upbeat,' said a dealer at a major French broker.
Net profit at the group leaped 50 pct to 1.246 bln eur, ahead of the 1.102 bln eur consensus of analysts' forecasts prepared by Thomson Financial. Bouygues said it is targeting an 8 pct jump in 2007 sales to 28.6 bln eur.
Group operating profit was 1.877 bln eur, up 8 pct, but that of Bouygues' Telecom unit fell 2 pct to 581 mln.
Fideuram Wargny downgraded the stock to 'reduce' from 'hold', complaining both net and operating profit missed its estimates.
Alcatel-Lucent closed 0.15 eur, or 1.53 pct, lower at 9.65, after it was initiated with an 'equal-weight' recommendation by Morgan Stanley.
In a research note out this morning, Morgan Stanley said it had fundamental concerns about the impact of competition on cost savings and the sub-scale wireless division, which is likely to drag on Alcatel-Lucent's market-leading wireline operations. paris@afxnews.com mjs/jfr/mjs/am COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. 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
© 2007 AFX News
