LONDON (AFP) - European stock markets fell slightly in early deals as profit-taking set in after gains linked to the US election, as dealers awaited interest rate decisions in Europe.
The London FTSE 100 lost 0.36 percent at 4,701.70 points, the Frankfurt DAX shed 0.45 percent to 4,020.94 points and the Paris CAC 40 dropped 0.51 percent to 3,750.71 points.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares declined by 0.57 percent to 2,844.25 points.
The euro rose to 1.2868 dollars, the highest level since February 18.
In New York shares swung higher Wednesday following the re-election of US President George W. Bush, seen as the more business-friendly of the two candidates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.01 percent to close at 10,137.05 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 0.98 percent to 2,004.33.
The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index added 1.12 percent to 1,143.20 points.
"It was a very positive reaction yesterday to the Bush victory and the fact that there wasn't a drawn-out legal battle," said Henk Potts, investment strategist at Barclays Stockbrokers.
"The FTSE went to a 28-month high so you can understand that it's coming off a little bit today."
The market was pleased that the uncertainty over the election had disappeared, said Potts.
"But then of course there's other issues for the market to contend with over the rest of the quarter: questions over where the US economy's going ... the high oil price, and corporate profits," he added.
European markets edged into negative territory as dealers awaited interest rate decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.
Economists expected both central banks to leave official borrowing costs unchanged -- at 2.0 percent in the eurozone and 4.75 percent in Britain.
There were also some company results for investors to digest.
Shares in BNP Paribas dropped 2.20 percent to 53.35 euros in Paris as the stock succumbed to profit-taking despite the French bank reporting higher-than-expected third-quarter net profit, dealers said.
BNP Paribas posted net profit of 1.10 billion euros in the third quarter, a rise of 13.5 percent from a year earlier.
Shares in HypoVereinsbank (HVB) dipped 0.65 percent to 15.25 euros after the German bank warned it might not hit its full-year operating profit target after posting weaker-than-expected third-quarter results.
Net profit slid to six million euros from 196 million, compared with expectations of 17-110 million.
"HVB's figures look dismal and contrast with strong quarterly results from other European banks this morning, such as ING, BNP and Credit Suisse," said one dealer in Frankfurt.
Credit Suisse Group gained 0.24 percent to 42.15 Swiss francs in Zurich after the banking group reported a five-fold increase in its third-quarter net profit in 2004 from a year earlier to 1.35 billion Swiss francs (882 million euros, 1.13 million dollars).

11/04/2004 - 15:47 GMT - AFP