Weakness in the technology sector send the FTSE Eurofirst 300 0.9 percent lower on Tuesday, to close at 1,309.06. There were serious investor concerns as fears surfaced that quarterly reports could be disappointing.

French engineering group Alstom reported first-quarter sales figures that did not satisfy, while it warned that an increase in orders during the quarter will not be likely to be sustained all year. Shares in Alstom lost 3.5 percent to €66.95.

Among tech companies, Alcatel dropped 5.9 percent to €9.20 despite saying that preliminary quarterly numbers are about where they were expected to be and that its merger with Lucent Technologies would be closed by the end of the year. While Citigroup retained its “buy” recommendation for Alcatel, Dresdner Kleinwort retained a “sell” recommendation and a target share price of €8.60. Elsewhere, Nokia fell 2 percent to €15.14 and Ericsson declined by 3.4 percent to SKr22.60.

Phillips Electronics was down 3.8 percent to €23.06 ahead of its quarterly report, due next Monday.

ASML declined by 2 percent to €15.13 as the semiconductor sector saw losses. STMicroelectronics dropped 2.4 percent to €11.91, while Infineon was down by 2.8 percent to €8.73.

Among gainers on the day, drugmaker Roche ended the session 0.2 percent higher to SFr207.60, and went as high as SFr211, as UBS increased its target share price from SFr230 to SFr270, citing its potential for expansion.

Automobile manufacturer Fiat added 1.7 percent to €10.85 as Goldman Sachs issued a “buy” rating as it resumed coverage of the carmaker.

Weakness in the automobile manufacturing sector hurt European stock markets on Tuesday, but strength in other sectors allowed the FTSE Eurofirst 300 to close 0.2 percent higher at 1,321.46.

The steel sector saw advances as ThyssenKrupp did the best among blue-chip stocks with a gain of 3.8 percent to €28.64 after it said it will buy back as much as 5 percent of its shares. West LB saw this as a sign that further consolidation in the sector will follow the Arcelor-Mittal merger.

Banks also did well amid mergers and acquisitions rumors. BBVA of Spain added 1.9 percent to €16.55 on talk that it could merge with HSBC. It was also helped by hopes that the results of the presidential election in Mexico, where it generates a substantial part of its earnings, could be beneficial to business. Elsewhere in the Spanish banking sector, Deutsche Bank issued positive comments about Banco Santander Central Hispano and Banco Pastor, sending their share values up 0.4 percent to €11.49 and 2.9 percent to €10.60 respectively.

Among carmakers, Volkswagen dropped 0.1 percent to €55.14 and Peugeot declined by 0.9 percent to €48.85. DaimlerChrysler fell 0.7 percent to €38.50 after new data showed that while its Mercedes Benz sales were up by 14 percent last month, sales by its US Chrysler unit were down 15 percent in the month. In addition, Morgan Stanley cut DaimlerChrysler’s target share price from €50 to €46.

Elsewhere in the sector, Fiat was down 1.8 percent to €10.349 on a downgrade from “neutral” to “sell” from Merrill Lynch. Renault was also 1.8 percent lower, to €82.70, after it said that it will explore the idea of an alliance with General Motors if GM proposes such a move.

European equities markets saw gains on Thursday as many of the stocks that have seen the biggest losses have turned around to see substantial gains. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 2.3 percent on the day to 1,268.44.

Automobile manufacturers were up on the day after new data on car registrations in Europe was released. BMW added 3.3 percent to €37.75, while Fiat was up 4.9 percent to €10.234 and Volkswagen gained 5.1 percent to €53.36.

Higher prices on crude oil and metals helped companies that deal in those commodities to gains. Norsk Hydro, with activities in both oil and aluminium, was up 9.3 percent to NKr164. Statoil advanced by 6.2 percent to NKr164.

Banks were up as well. National Bank of Greece added 9.5 percent to €29.02; it had dropped almost 10 percent since the first of June. Meanwhile, Commerzbank gained 4.4 percent to €26.92 as Deutsche Bank upgraded it to “buy” and said that its significant loss in share price recently was more than could be justified.

Utilities were mixed. Gaz de France and Suez, which have been planning a merger, each added 1 percent, to €26.17 and €29.97 respectively. Deutsche Bank commented that political support for the deal has receded in France and consequently it would likely not happen. Italian utility Enel, which has bid for Suez, declined by 0.1 percent to €6.993.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.8 percent to 1,381.24 on Monday on new mergers and acquisition news and on gains in the automobile manufacturing sector.

The big news was the merger between French telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel and US peer Lucent Technologies. Alcatel was up 4.8 percent to €13.38 after it was announced on Sunday that it will purchase Lucent for $13.4 billion. The two companies had been talking merger for five years. In other news affecting Alcatel, French defence electronics company Thales gained 1.6 percent to €37.26 on the announcement that its board will meet Tuesday to explore closer ties with Alcatel, which already owns 9.5 percent of Thales.

In Spanish mergers and acquisitions news, construction company Acciona added 2.8 percent to €132.10 on rumors that it will try to acquire Abengoa, the engineering group. Acciona is up more than 40 percent since the beginning of the year.

Dutch chemicals firm DSM lost 1.8 percent to €37.01 after it said it had added to its stake in nutritional group Sciona. The move led UBS to cut its recommendation on DSM from “neutral” to “reduce”.

The European automobile manufacturing sector was taken higher by strong data on sales. After reporting that its sales in China was up 40 percent in the first quarter, Volkswagen added 2.7 percent to €63.99. China is VW’s second largest market. Meanwhile, Fiat was up 3.9 percent to €10.80 in anticipation of March’s Italian sales data, which is expected to show that the company’s sales grew faster than the overall market.

In Europe on Friday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.5 percent to 1,383.19. The day’s gain helped the Eurofirst to add 1 percent on the week.

In the pharmaceuticals sector, Schering was up 4.6 percent on the week to €86.30 on an offer from Bayer that was higher than an earlier bid from Merck, which withdrew its bid on the grounds that it could not justify upping its offer. Even though WestLB issued a downgrade on Bayer from “add” to “hold” because it considered the possible deal “ambitious”, Bayer still added 6.8 percent on the week to €35.42. Merck, meanwhile, gained 1.4 percent to €80.99 on a reiteration of WestLB’s “buy” recommendation. Elsewhere in the sector, Sanofi-Aventis was up by 5.2 percent to €77.45 on news that a patent dispute had been settled.

In the automobile manufacturing sector, Volkswagen gained 6.7 percent to €62.13, while Fiat was up 7.6 percent to €10.01. BMW added 8.8 percent to €46.01 on indications that it will do well this year.

French telecom equipment maker Alcatel gained 1.6 percent to €13.05 on Friday, a two-year high, bringing its advance for the week to 8.9 percent. The gains came on news that it had re-entered merger talks with US company Lucent Technologies. Rumors that a merger would prompt Alcatel to sell its 9.5 percent stake in defense group Thales. This sent shares in Thales up 4.5 percent on Friday, to €37.65.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained only a fraction on the day to close at 1,368.74 on Thursday on mixed results in several sectors.

The telecommunications sector saw investors’ interest raised after Spanish company Telefonica announced that it will buy out minority shares of Telefonaica Moviles. Shares in Moviles were 2.2 percent higher at the close, at €10.72, after having gone as high as €11.50 during the day. However, Telefonica closed at €13.20, down 0.9 percent on the day.

The automobile manufacturing sector was up on the day. BMW was barely up, closing at €42.72 even though it had been upgraded from “neutral” to “buy” by Merrill Lynch. Fiat was up as well, by 1.9 percent to €9.31, on news that sales were up by 11.5 percent in February, taking its market share to 8.8 percent. Also helping Fiat was data showing car registrations in Europe up by 2.1 percent. Renault gained 1.1 percent to €82.90 even though sales were down by 5.7 percent in February, reducing its market share from 10.2 percent to 9.4 percent.

In utilities Gaz de France was up 2.6 percent to €30.31on an increased dividend and a forecast for more increases in profits in 2006.

Among stock market operators, Deutsche Borse added 2.8 percent to €117.21on its upcoming merger with Euronext, which also saw an advance, gaining 2.1 percent to €64.