HELSINKI Nokia Corp. shares slumped on the Helsinki stock exchange early on Wednesday on prospects of a slowdown in the growth of mobile telephone sales, brokers said.
The price of Nokia shares had dropped 8.2 percent to 34.90 euros, adding to factors which dragged down the overall hex index by 6.30 percent to 10,332.35 points, according to an AFP dispatch.
The drop was partly caused by a downward revision of estimates by Dutch electronic group Royal Philips Electronics NV for sales of handsets for 2000 to 14 million units from 18 million, said Leonia PLC analyst Petri Kuusela.
The pessimism over the mobile telephone market was unfounded, however, said Kuusela, because Nokia had managed to expand its market share at the expense of its competitors, including U.S.
giant Motorola Inc.
Overall uncertainty about the future direction of the market, especially growth sectors such as technology, the Internet and telecommunications, also weighed down Nokia, he added.
Further clouding the picture were persistent doubts over the chances of success for the third generation of mobile telephones, which are designed to allow fast Internet access.
Approaching results for LM Ericsson AB on Friday and for Nokia itself on October 26 had also undermined sentiment, Kuusela said.
Sahres in Mobile telephone operator Sonera Corp. also fell in the morning by 7.1 percent to 20.11 euros after already slumping by 10 percent on Tuesday.
Brokers blamed worries about the third generation of mobile telephones and the change of chief executive at Sonera's Smarttrust Unit, which provides secure business transactions over the Internet.