Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 216.36 points lower at 16,998.06 and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index ended 36.41 points higher at 16,153.91.

Last Friday on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 119.04 points to 11,027.8, boosted by economic data that eased interest rate worries, but the technology-rich Nasdaq composite staged only a mild rally, rising 29.48 points to 3,789.47, under the pressure of negative news on Dell Computer's earnings.

The London market was dominated by stocks going ex-dividend in early trade, but rallied following the publication of producer price index data in line with forecasts. HSBC fell 15 pence to 917, Shell shed 5 to 561, BP Amoco fell 4.5 pence to 596.5 and Rio Tinto lost two to 1123.

Hyder was also in the spotlight, falling 16 pence to 369 as the city awaited news from the Takeover Panel on the outcome of the highly contentious bid battle for the utility. So far, the group has advised shareholders to take no action.

In Frankfurt, "old economy" shares rose on the back of the Dow Jones Industrial Average rally. Preussag rose 0.68 euros to 35.95 and ThyssenKrupp gained 0.19 euros to 18.75.

Market heavyweight Deutsche Telekom was flat, gaining 0.15 euros to 48.50, as the bidding for next generation mobile licences gathered apace. Paris' market heavyweight France Telecom was 1.20 euros lower at 136.20.4 underwriters picked up for NTT share sales
Tokyo: Japan has picked four brokers to sell its shares in the former state-monopoly Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT), an official said Monday. "We have selected four underwriters as a preparation for sales of NTT shares," said a finance ministry official Masato Noguchi.

The ministry awarded Nikko Salomon Smith Barney Ltd., Nomura Securities Co. Ltd., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Merrill Lynch and Co. to arrange the sales, he said. Nikko Salomon and Nomura will handle domestic sales while Goldman and Merrill will be in charge of overseas sales.

"These four companies will coordinate the sales by making arrangements between the government, NTT and other brokerage firms," Noguchi said. Some 60 domestic and a dozen of foreign brokers will likely join the actual sales of the NTT shares, he said. The official denied Saturday's report by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily that the ministry planned to sell one million NTT shares in October.

"We have yet to decide when to conduct the sales," Noguchi said. "It is not true that the sales will take place in October as various procedures for the sales will take time." The ministry of finance owns a 53 per cent stake in NTT, equivalent to 8,416,855 shares worth 12.12 trillion yen ($111 billion).In December, the ministry announced a plan to sell up to one million shares in NTT in the fiscal year to March 2001, aimed at helping redeem government bonds as Japan's national debt hits record highs.

HK shares fall 1.3 per cent
Hong Kong share prices fell 1.3 per cent to below the 17,000-mark level Monday on further profit-taking from recent gains amid an absence of market moving news, dealers said.

"The market has seen huge gains in past weeks, it is normal to have some correction," said Ricky Tam, research director at Pacific Challenge, noting that the market was mainly dragged down by telecom and Internet shares. The key Hang Seng index lost 216.36 points to close at 16,998.06 on a turnover of 9.74 billion Hong Kong dollars ($1.25 billion).