The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down by over 1 percent to 1,466.97 on Tuesday. The banking sector was instrumental in the declines as worries about the US subprime mortgage sector continued in abundance, despite analyst opinion that it would not turn out to have that much effect in the European sector.

Among investment banks, UBS (SWX: UBSN; NYSE: UBS; TYO: 8657) dropped 1.1 percent to €70.20, while Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) and Credit Suisse (SWX: CSGN; NYSE: CS) each fell 1.9 percent, to €96.46 and €85.75 respectively. Commerzbank (DAX: CBK) was 2.9 percent lower, not only on the general sentiment in the sector, but also due to a statement from Citigroup (NYSE: C) that it is not interested in bidding on the German bank.

In the chemicals sector, Akzo Nobel (Eurofirst: AKZ; NAS: AKZOY) added 0.8 percent to €54.11, still buoyed by news of the sale of its Organon drugs unit to US company Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP). ING (Euronext: INGA; NYSE: ING) upgraded Akzo from “hold” to “buy” and upped its target share price to €64, citing a sale price for the company that was €3 billion dollars than market estimates.

Altadis (IBEX-35: ALT) added 1 percent to €38.20 even though it denied that UK tobacco company Imperial Tobacco (LSE: IMT) was looking for a friendly merger in order to stop an approach by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 1.3 percent over the week to close at 1,489.47 on Friday, for a gain of 0.23 percent on the day.

Car and truck makers did will over the week after Volkswagen (OTC: VLKAY) once again raised its share in Swedish truck maker Scandia (OMX: SCV B), this time to 35.3 percent of voting rights and 20 percent of the company’s total share capital. That means that Volkswagen and MAN (FWB: EDF1), which holds 14.8 percent of the Swedish truck maker, together own a bit over 50 percent of voting rights in Scania. The new acquisition by VW is seen as a step toward consolidation in the European truck making sector. VW, which is also the largest shareholder in MAN, added 10.5 percent on the week to €103.5, while MAN gained 8.7 percent to €87.73. Scania was 2.9 percent higher to SKr534.

Irish banks also saw substantial gains during the week. Bank of Ireland (LSE: BKIR; NYSE: IRE; ISEQ: BKIR) gained 1.9 percent to €17.38 and Allied Irish Banks ( LSE: ALBK; NYSE: AIB; FWB: AIB; ISEQ: ALBK) added 7.9 percent to €23.40. Both were helped by an announcement from Anglo Irish Bank (LSE: ANGL; FWB: CKL; ISEQ: ANGL) that it expects its earnings in the first half of the year to be nearly 40 percent higher than last year’s results.

Aerospace company EADS (FWB: EAD; Euronext: EAD) dropped 4.4 percent during the week to €22.60. EADS announced on Friday that losses at its Airbus division sent full-year operating profits for the group down by 86 percent and said it expects losses this year as well.

In Europe on Tuesday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.98 percent to 1,460.47. Other European exchanges saw similar gains, with the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt gaining 0.92 percent to 6,595 and the CAC 40 up 0.97 percent to 5,437.13 in Paris.

The pharmaceutical sector was higher after Novartis (NYSE: NVS) gained approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for Tektura, a new blood pressure treatment that could generate as much as $1 billion per year in sales by 2010. Novartis added 4.9 percent to SFr70.10. Helped by this success and by analyst comment that pharma shares are too cheap, Merck (NYSE: MRK) gained 0.8 percent to €92.70 and Roche (SWX: ROG; OTC: RHHBY) was 0.9 percent higher to SFr216.

Peugeot’s (Euronext: UG; OTC: PEUGY) chief executive said at the opening of the Geneva car show that his company is not interested in purchasing DaimlerChrysler’s (FWB: DCX; NYSE: DCX; TYO: 7663) US Chrysler division. With no rivals voicing interest, analysts believe that any offers for the troubled carmaker will likely come from private equity and, indeed, rumors have a couple of private entities interested. Peugeot added 0.7 percent to €49.43, while DaimlerChrysler was 3 percent higher to €52. Meanwhile, Fiat (NYSE: FIA) gained 0.6 percent to €17.67 after Goldman Sachs repeated its “conviction buy” on the carmaker and raised its target share price from €17 to €22.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 5.1 percent during the week and was down 1.4 percent on the year when it closed at 1,463.3 on Friday.

Banks were lower, with those exposed Turkey and Eastern European markets doing the worst. EFG Eurobank (ASE: EFG) dropped 8.4 percent to €27.20 after it agreed this week to purchase 70 percent of Tefkenbank of Turkey. Raiffeisen International (WBAG: RIBH) fell 9.2 percent to €102.25; the Austrian bank owns assets in Central and Eastern Europe. National Bank of Greece (LSE: NBGA; NYSE: NBG), owner of Finansbank of Turkey, was 9.5 percent lower to €38, while Alpha Bank (OTC: ALBKY) fell 12.5 percent to €21.88 even though it reported that profits were up by 24.6 percent in 2006.

Software maker SAP (FWB: SAP; NYSE: SAP) added 1.4 percent during the week to €35.34 after bids rumors and a reiterated “buy” rating from Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB).

In the automobile manufacturing sector, Volkswagen (OTC: VLKAY) and Porsche (FWB: POR3) were both lower, even though VW reported good results from its Audi division. VW dropped 1.8 percent on the week to €93.22, while Porsche fell 6.7 percent to €968.21.

Moller Maersk, the Danish shipper which has exposure to Russia and China, saw its B shares drop 7.2 percent lower this week to DKr58,200.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.9 percent lower on Thursday to 1,469.02 after going as high as 1,495.16 during the day. The declines came as most global markets were down for a third day in a row. The CAC 40 in Paris dropped 1.1 percent, as did the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt, to 5,458.40 and 6,640.24 respectively. Meanwhile, the RTS in Moscow dropped another 5.72 percent to 1,797.10.

Banks were mixed on the day. Alpha Bank (OTC: ALBKY) dropped 5.6 percent to €22 on a lowered target share price from Credit Suisse, which nonetheless reiterated its “outperform” rating on the Greek bank even though it found Alpha’s fourth-quarter report lacking. On the other hand, Erste Bank (WBAG: EBS; OTC EBKDY) added 0.6 percent to €56.50 on results that were better than had been anticipated. Swedbank (Stockholm Stock Exchange: SWED A) added 3.5 percent to SKr249 after losses the past two session.

In the telecommunications sector, Deutsche Telekom (NSYE: DT; LSE: DEU; TYO: 9496) dropped 3.8 percent to €13.04 on full-year net profits that were down by 43 percent. The German telecom also revised downward its core earnings prediction for 2007.

Software group SAP (FWB: SAP; NYSE: SAP) added 3.8 percent to €36.13 on rumors that private equity is interested in acquiring a major stake in the Germany company. Additionally, rumors continued to circulate that the software maker would mount a share buy-back. The company refused to comment.