Techs and telecoms fall in Europe

Beleaguered technology stocks continued to suffer in Europe today, as investors remain sceptical about their ability to bounce back from recent decline.

Blue-chip stocks were leading European declines, with telecoms firm Marconi UK falling a further four per cent on yesterday. London Bridge Software fell 19 per cent, whilst French chipmaker STMicroelectronics fell 3.8 per cent on the back of chip weakness in the US. Computer games maker Eidos announced a first-half sales rise, but warned that game sales during the past financial year have been lower than expected, impacting on the share price with a nine per cent fall. Anglo-French IT services group Sema saw 44 per cent slashed off its shares on Friday following a profit warning. Further trouble is expected as shareholders question why a group director offloaded £32m worth of shares before the warning, according to a Financial Times report.