Telecom slowdown hits Scandinavian markets

Scandinavian stock markets were dominated by the mobile telephone giants until their recent demise, according to Jeremy Knight, European fund manager at Legg Mason. He says Finland's Nokia used to be the largest stock in the FTSE World Europe ex-UK index but has now dropped to being the fifth largest. Ericsson is similarly important to the Swedish economy. It was recently found to make up 15% of the country's exports, says Knight. But the stock continues to perform poorly, falling 30% in August and Knight does not see it turning around in the near term. Companies which ser...