European equities fell on Thursday on nagging worries about slower corporate profit growth, while British retailer Marks & Spencer led retailers lower after Philip Green abandoned his takeover bid. By 0710 GMT, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index <.FTEU3> of pan-European blue chips was down 0.2 percent at 978.5 points and the narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index <.STOXX50E> eased 0.1 percent to 2,752.3 points. Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia edged up 0.4 percent to 11.4 euros ahead of its earnings update due at 1000 GMT. Positive results and a robust outlook from Sony Ericsson firmed sentiment across the tech sector but the market's overall tone remained overridingly cautious. "If we can get some decent numbers, we could see a rally but if not, this will hit markets further as sentiment is still very weak and trading levels are poor," said Nigel Cobby, managing director of European equities at JP Morgan, noting that the Sony Ericsson numbers were a positive for the sector . Investors are looking for signs from Nokia on whether price cuts and consumer demand for the latest phone models have helped stem the top global phone maker's loss of market share and at what cost.
HANDSETS, M&S
Swedish-Japanese mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson beat second-quarter profit estimates thanks to strong demand for camera-phones and it raised its global handset sales forecast. Also among tech stocks, shares in German electronics firm Epcos fell 4.6 percent to 15 euros after UBS downgraded its rating on the firm to "reduce" from "buy", dealers said. Gainers included BP and Total , which advanced 0.4 percent and 0.1 percent respectively, tracking a rise in NYMEX crude oil prices to a six-week high over $41. U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday, led by a steep sell-off in the semiconductor sector. Second-quarter data from Nokia will offer the first glimpse of how effective the group has been in fending off rivals hungry for a larger slice of the booming global handset market -- and at what cost. Meanwhile, shares in Marks & Spencer slid 6 percent to 341 pence after tycoon Philip Green abandoned his planned 9.1 billion pound bid for Britian's biggest clothing retailer. Rival retailers including Next and Woolworth fell 0.6 percent and 3.4 respectively. Green abandoned his 400-pence-per-share proposal on Wednesday night after Marks & Spencer steadfastly refused to open its books to him. But analysts said Marks & Spencer stock, which rose 1.3 percent on Wednesday, will not drop back to pre-bid offer levels of around 290 pence as Green's six-week campaign had triggered the arrival of a new M&S chief executive, retail expert Stuart Rose, and a turnaround plan. In New York on Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> lost 0.4 percent to 10,209 points, and the tech-laced Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> fell 0.9 percent to 1,914.9 points.///