Nokia weaker at afternoon amid weak mkt, Christmas sales woes
, 12.16.04, 5:17 PM ET
AFX News Limited
HELSINKI (AFX) - Shares in Nokia Corp were lower in afternoon trade with analysts highlighting weak market fundamentals including a persistently strong euro against the dollar, while fears of poor Christmas sales also weighed on sentiment, dealers said.
At 3.44 pm, Nokia was down 0.99 pct at 11.60 eur, after trading within a range of 11.55-11.82 eur, in turnover of 215.3 mln eur. The HEX All-share index was down 0.2 pct at 6,171.82 points.
Some investors could also be jittery about Nokia's Christmas sales following a news report from Finnish business daily Taloussanomat, which wrote that Nokia's Art Deco handset models will not be sufficiently available for Christmas shoppers in Europe, an analyst said.
Nokia itself, however, had denied any such delivery problems.
"Uncertainty behind Nokia's Christmas sales could be worrying some investors, but at the same time the market is also soft, with the dollar low and oil prices still high. I'd say that the weight is more on market conditions (than on the report), FIM Securities analyst Jussi Hyoety said.
Conventum Securities analyst Jari Honko agreed with Hyoety, saying that he saw no single reason behind today's weakness in Nokia.
"There is no single reason behind the decline, it's more likely that investors are still a bit unsure about what the company's future revenue will turn out next year," Conventum Securities analyst Jari Honko said.
Honko rates Nokia as 'accumulate'.
nina.garlo@afxnews.com