Europe tech stocks follow Nasdaq down

Europe followed Nasdaq's overnight slump of 4.4 per cent as it opened lower this morning.

During early trading, the FTSE 100 was down 0.06 per cent with an 8.5 per cent drop from Baltimore Technologies following news that year-end losses had trebled to £94.2m. Although Autonomy's jump yesterday following news of contract wins and Deutsche Bank's earnings forecasts upgrade boosted it during trading yesterday, this morning it was back down by 2.82 per cent. The general decline was matched around Europe by the other indices. The Neuer Markt 50 was down 2.6 per cent by mid-morning, while the Paris CAC 40 was down 19.04 points, or 0.34 per cent.