Shares ended floor trade firm but off IBIS index record highs, as the falling market and weakening DAX futures offset a soaring bank sector. Traders said the DAX is expected to remain in the range of 2,540 to 2,580 in the days to come.

CAC-40: 2,073.66 (-8.19)

A sharp drop in early Wall Street trading dragged French shares to a lower close.

Volume, inflated by the start of Saint-Gobnin's tender offer for building materials firm Poliet, was a heavy 7.7 billion francs.

Mibtel: 10,391 (-46)

Italian stocks extended losses by the close in thin trading with the market ignoring domestic politics, but depressed by a series of external factors with Wall Street's continued slide and steep losses in technology stocks.

Traders said losses had been limited by the thin market with forecasts putting volume at under 400 billion lire, while foreign investors were staying away sidelined awaiting details of Italy's 1997 budget and an official interest rate cut.