By Eva Kuehnen
FRANKFURT, April 30 (Reuters) - European shares dipped on
Wednesday, as declines in British gas producer BG Group <BG.L>
offset gains in Siemens <SIEGn.DE> amid a raft of corporate
updates and ahead of a U.S. rate decision.
Among major movers, Alcatel-Lucent <ALUA.PA> fell 8.8
percent after the French-American telecom equipment supplier cut
its global telecom equipment forecast.
The largest individual negative weight on the European
market was BG, which fell 3.5 percent after making a $12.1
billion bid approach to Australian utility Origin Energy Ltd
<ORG.AX> alongside its first-quarter results.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <> dipped in
and out of the red and was last down 0.1 percent at 1,326.61
points at 0852 GMT. The index fell 0.8 percent in the previous
session, breaking a four-day rally, as weak banks and miners
offset the impact of buoyant oil stocks.
The index is on course for a 5 percent gain this month,
which would make it its best monthly performance since October
2003. But so far this year, the index is down 12 percent.
Alexander Burger, an analyst at German bank LBBW, said
concerns the credit crisis was still far from over had
prevailed, which was why reactions to the day's earnings updates
were rather muted.
SAP <SAPG.DE> fell 4.3 percent, dragging down the DJ Stoxx
European technology index <.SX8P>, after the business software
maker delayed a rollout of new software and reported
weaker-than-expected first-quarter sales and earnings.
"Based on the softer-than-expected start into the year ...
we see the risk that the full year growth targets could be
missed," said Knut Woller, analyst at UniCredit in a note to
clients.
Siemens gained 2.7 percent after Chief Executive Peter
Loescher said he was guardedly optimistic about the second half
of 2008. Siemens reported net income dropped by two-thirds in
the January-March period, missing market expectations, because
of discontinued operations and project delays.
Theo Kitz, analyst at Merck Finck said he expected some
relief on Wednesday because Siemens group profit from operations
was almost 20 percent above expectations and the major project
risks at Siemens's Power Generation business were now known.
Gains in index heavyweight Siemens pushed the German DAX
index <> up 0.1 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 index <>
was down 0.1 percent France's CAC 40 <> fell 0.2 percent.
Sanofi-Aventis <SASY.PA> fell 1.6 percent after its sales
and profits fell less than expected in the first quarter, but
the French drugmaker said its experimental antidepressant,
saredutant, had failed in a clinical trial.
Investors await the Federal Open Market Committee's interest
rate decision, which is due around 1815 GMT. The Fed is expected
to cut rates by a quarter percentage point to 2 percent, which
would take its total rate slashing over the past seven months to
3.25 percentage points.
Close attention will also be paid to the Fed's post-meeting
statement which may provide clues as to whether the Fed has come
to an end of its rate cutting cycle.
(Editing by Quentin Bryar)
