Good news for telcos as US markets boost European exchanges

European tech stocks rose on market opening today after a late rally from the US Nasdaq exchange on Friday revived a little confidence in high-tech firms.

The London Stock Exchange opened up marginally higher, with the TechMARK index of technology shares rallying strongly - up one per cent by 09:00 (GMT). Telecoms companies performed particularly well in early trading, led by a two per cent rise for Vodafone. Energis and Telewest also rose quickly, rising six and four per cent respectively. The rises follow a one per cent rise for the Nasdaq on Friday - up 18 points to close at 2262.51. However, this was on the back of a week which saw many technology companies' share prices heading rapidly southwards after more bad earnings news worried investors.