European stocks struggle as oil prices rally above 54 dollars

LONDON (AFP) - European stock markets fell, pressured by rising oil prices, as investors digested news that General Motors, the world's biggest car maker, was to cut up to 12,000 jobs in Europe, mainly in Germany.
The London FTSE 100 index eased 0.08 percent to 4,631.30 points, the Frankfurt DAX 30 dropped 0.85 percent to 3,942.09 points and the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.51 percent to 3,675.59 points.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares declined 0.40 percent to 2,781.22 points.
The euro stood at 1.2363 dollars.
In Frankfurt, car makers struggled as US crude oil futures rallied above 54 dollars a barrel, dealers said.
German-US automobile manufacturer DaimlerChrysler fell 0.98 percent to 33.22 euros and BMW lost 0.24 percent at 33.67 euros.
But Volkswagen jumped 1.69 percent to 34.91 euros, a day after the European Commission sued the German government for ignoring demands to amend a law that protects the national car icon from a hostile takeover.
Dealers were meanwhile assessing the impact of GM's job-cut announcement, which it said was part of its plans to cut costs at its loss-making European activities by 500 million euros (610 million dollars) by 2006.
On the London stock market, the jump in oil prices weighed on British Airways, which fell 1.91 percent to 205 pence but energy giant Shell won 0.78 percent to 420.75 pence.
In Paris French food group Danone jumped 3.35 percent to 64.7 euros after the company posted sales ahead of analysts' expectations but trimmed its forecast for 2004 operating margin growth.
The group reported third quarter sales of 3.566 billion euros compared with 3.487 billion euros in the same period last year.
Finnish mobile giant Nokia meanwhile eased 0.09 percent to 11.40 euros after it posted better-than-expected results for the third quarter, marking a turn-around in fortunes after it failed to pick up on the popularity of clamshell phones.
Nokia reported a turnover of 6.94 billion euros, up from the 6.87 billion euros the company posted for the same period a year ago.
US stocks ended lower Wednesday after a late-day rally by crude oil prices cancelled out gains won from strong earnings reports in the technology sector, dealers said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.74 percent to 10,002.33 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 0.24 percent to 1,920.53.
The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index shed 0.73 percent to 1,113.65 points.
In Asia, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei-225 index closed 1.44 percent lower at 11,034.29 points on Thursday. Hong Kong's key Hang Seng Index ended 1.0 percent lower at 13,035.38 points.