European shares follow Wall Street lower

LONDON (AFP) - Europe's main stock markets fell on Tuesday, retracing some of last week's gains after losses overnight on Wall Street and earlier in Asia, dealers said.

In late morning trade, London's FTSE 100 index of top companies shed 0.36 percent to 6,004.40 points. Meanwhile, the Paris CAC 40 slid 0.87 percent to 4,930.39 points near the half-way stage and Frankfurt's DAX 30 gave back 0.46 percent to 6,968.45.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares lost 0.61 percent to 3,843.52.

The European single currency stood at 1.4688 dollars.

In Wall Street action on Monday, US stocks finished lower amid scant market-moving news as vehicle maker Chrysler announced it was shutting four plants due to a dispute with a parts supplier.

Japanese share prices closed down on Tuesday as investors locked in gains from the previous day's rally amid stubborn concerns about the outlook for the US economy, dealers said.

In London, the property sector was hit by broker downgrades, with British Land and Hammerson downgraded by HSBC to 'underweight' from 'neutral'.

Real estate group British Land shares sank 1.60 percent to 982.50 pence and peer Hammerson tumbled 3.06 percent to 1,110 pence.

HSBC said it believed that Britain's commercial property market was facing a steep correction.

Bucking the trend, shares in energy giant BP jumped 2.77 percent to 557 pence after the group hiked its quarterly shareholder dividend by 25 percent.

BP added Tuesday that net earnings fell 5.25 percent to 20.845 billion dollars (14.15 billion euros) last year, despite soaring oil prices, as it was hit by falling output.

Elsewhere, the European sector drove lower as investors cashed in recent gains.

In Paris, Renault stock dropped 2.85 percent to 75.21 euros, while DaimlerChrysler shed 2.10 percent to stand at 53.04 euros.

In Asia on Tuesday, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 0.82 percent to 13,745.50, with investors cautious ahead of another slew of earnings results from Japanese corporate heavyweights including Toyota Motor Corp.

Hong Kong's key Hang Seng index closed down 0.9 percent at 24,808.70 as investors used Wall Street's retreat overnight as an excuse to lock in gains ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday, dealers said.

The Hong Kong bourse will have a half-day session on Wednesday and shut Thursday and Friday for the Chinese New Year.

In US deals on Monday, the leading blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.85 percent at 12,634.16 points after languishing in negative territory during the day's trading session.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 1.26 percent to 2,382.85 points while the Standard & Poor's 500 index declined 1.05 percent to a close of 1,380.82.

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