Surprise Nokia profit warning hits other mobile stocks

Nokia's share price dropped 15.2% to €14.72 after it announced that it expected quarterly sales to fall 2% year-on-year to €6.6bn.

Earlier predictions had indicated that sales would grow by 3-7%.

The mobile phone giant also said that first quarter earnings would be 17 cent - at the low end of expectations and down 3 cent on the figure for a year ago.

"The overall Nokia sales were negatively impacted because we were not able to fully exploit the usual seasonal market pick-up in March, and the Mobile Phones product mix was weighted towards the low end," said CEO Jorma Ollila in a statement issued by the company.

This fall had a knock-on effect in the industry, with Ericsson losing 1.7% to SKr23 (€2.50), and French manufacturer Alcatel shedding 3.4% to €13.49.