Leading shares were surging in opening deals, with the FTSE 100 testing the 3,900 point barrier as tobacco and oil stocks advanced, while positive news from Oracle overnight aided second-line technology stocks, dealers said. At 8.59 am, the FTSE 100 index was up 67.9 points to 3,903.1, having earlier touched a high of 3,907.2.

Leading UK shares pushed to new lows midafternoon, weighed down by the steep opening falls on Wall Street, where investors continued to pare their stock holdings despite a robust US consumer confidence survey, dealers said.

Leading shares ended the day sharply lower, after data showing a surprise contraction of the US manufacturing sector acted to wipe out the gains amongst technology and telecom issues that had earlier pushed the FTSE 100 index to three-month highs, dealers said.

Share prices are expected to open higher as a surprise dip in weekly jobless claims and a strong rise in October consumer spending set the tone for a resumption in the rally in equities, which came to a halt yesterday as investors took the opportunity to lock in gains, dealers said.

Leading shares ended the day little changed, with a tepid opening on Wall Street and a drift for the heavyweight oil stocks offsetting rallies for stocks including Hays and Lloyds TSB, dealers said.

Leading shares ended weaker today, albeit above opening lows, reversing yesterday's gains in tandem with early falls on Wall Street as uncertainties over the UN arms mission to Iraq, and some poor US corporate news put equities on the back foot, dealers said.

INVESTORS taking profits on the €10 billion plus increase in the value of Irish stock over the last four weeks knocked almost €1bn of the value of the ISEQ yesterday.

Shares in technology companies were flat to slightly lower midday in lacklustre rangebound trade as the heavyweight chip sector came under pressure following Applied Materials job cuts announcement despite a buoyant networking sector ahead of Cisco's results tomorrow, dealers said.

Leading shares were weak in midmorning deals, undermined by last night's weak performance on the DJIA and a string of negative press reports and with nerves taut ahead of this afternoon's key US data, dealers said.

Share prices were higher in choppy trade as defensive buying in the pharmaceutical sector, gains among technology stocks and tobacco companies helped offset a weak retail sector after Sears issued a third-quarter profit warning, dealers said.

Shares prices were lower in early trade on a raft of lower revenue guidance from companies including Wal-Mart and Sprint Corp, with weak economic data and the threat of a conflict with Iraq further shaking investor confidence, dealers said.

International Business Machines Corp said Electronic Data Systems Corp's problems are specific to EDS itself, a company spokeswoman said.

Leading blue chips closed just off their session highs, as investors took heart from Wall Street's advance ahead of the first anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks, albeit in thin volumes as investors kept to the sidelines, dealers said.

London shares edged higher in midmorning trades, underpinned by another positive session on Wall Street last night, and fuelled by a resurgence of interest in technology stocks following Dell's Q2 figures overnight, dealers said.

Share prices were off their lows at midday, but lower nonetheless as investors took profits on recent sharp gains and behaved cautiously ahead of tomorrow's Federal Reserve meeting on monetary policy and after yesterday's news of the US Airways bankruptcy, dealers said.

Share prices closed moderately lower after a session that was unusually tranquil by recent standards and caused some optimists to ponder whether the recently chaotic market could be approaching a sustainable bottom, dealers said.

Leading shares remained firmer but off intraday highs in thin midday trading, tentatively clawing back some of yesterday's massive losses, although investors continued to tread warily in the wake of the apparent $4 bn (€4.06bn) fraud at WorldCom, dealers said.

Shares in technology companies traded lower midsession, as investors continued to take their cue from the recent slew of negative news hitting the sector and as buyers widely continued to remain elusive, dealers said.

Leading shares slumped to 8-month lows in midmorning deals, with just one blue chip in positive territory as investors fretted over Wall Street's precipitous falls overnight, yesterday's dismal retails data and a raft of poor news from the US tech sector, dealers said.

Leading shares plunged in opening deals, dragged lower by TMTs, heavyweight drugs and oils after precipitous falls on Wall Street last night, with only a handful of defensively positioned stocks registering a gain, dealers said.

Technology shares were lower midsession, with the Nasdaq composite hovering near its lows for the day amid worries about the upcoming earnings season, with fears of ongoing tensions in the Middle East continuing to weigh on sentiment, dealers said.

Shares of prominent US auto makers and car parts manufacturers were mostly higher in early afternoon trade, after JP Morgan auto analyst David Bradley upgraded the sector to a 'market weight' rating, dealers said.

General Electric Co's shares were posting a modest gain in midsession trade as investors pondered the defense the company issued to counter a prominent bond fund manager's criticisms of its debt load, dealers said.

Share prices were lower in early trade, after stronger than-expected inflation and labor data intensified the market's concerns that the Federal Reserve is poised to raise rates soon, dealers said.

Prices of American Depositary Receipts in Asian companies closed lower, as technology and telecoms pressured Asia lower, dealers said.

Share prices were higher in early trade after changing direction several times in uncertain price action, as investors reviewed a new set of technology sector research notes and a defense industry takeover offer, dealers said.

Prices of technology shares closed relatively unchanged, with the Nasdaq composite's trading range only spanning 11.83 points throughout the shortened session amid very light volume ahead of tomorrow's Christmas holiday.

Share prices posted slight gains on light volumes in early trade, with a lot of the buying interest concentrated in a few well-known names, with many market players absent ahead of the Christmas holidays, dealers said.

Blue chips ended the day near session lows, as a profits warning from US networking firm Juniper Networks and the state of emergency in Argentina impacted sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic, dealers said.

Leading shares remained weak but were off their worst levels in cautious midday trading, aided by a Wall Street opening which, while directionless, was slightly better than had been previously indicated, dealers said.

Share prices closed sharply higher, with the DJIA ending above 10,000 points and the Nasdaq composite finishing above 2,000 for the first time in months, after the NAPM's non-manufacturing index for the services industry indicated that the sector expanded last month, countering the overall recessionary trend, dealers said.

The DJIA finished down 110.15 points at 9,872.60, off an earlier low of 9,831. The index briefly moved into positive territory just after 2.00 pm, touching a high of 9,992.72.

UK blue chips stayed weak around midday but held off their early morning lows, supported by hopes of a recovery on Wall Street today following a savaging over the past few sessions, although much will depend on February U.S. retail sales data due at 1.30 pm, dealers said.

Leading shares in London closed just off their intra-day lows after another erratic performance, with weakness in financial and 'old economy' issues preying upon early gains in the technology, telecom and media sectors - still buoyed by strong pre-weekend gains on the Nasdaq - dealers said.

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - Share prices closed lower in line with the steep falls on NASDAQ Friday, but were well off their lows near the close on positive comments from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Shizuka Kamei, dealers said.