European shares headed lower for the second day running on Thursday after an unconvincing performance on Wall Street overnight encouraged some investors to lock in a few profits after recent gains.

Frankfurt

Germany's benchmark Xetra Dax index slipped in early morning trade on Thursday as Deutsche Bank and Daimler-Benz nine-month results disappointed investors and reinforced the previous day's downturn.

By 0900 GMT, the electronically traded Xetra Dax was down 69.78 points at 4,495.34 points.

The floor Dax was 0.68% lower at 4,505.68 points.

"There is no particular reason to head higher, Wall Street wasn't convincing and the company results are not great either." a trader said.

Ahead of Frankfurt's open, Deutsche Bank reported a 24.1% fall in operating profit but Germany's largest bank said it was confident of achieving satisfactory profit for 1998 despite difficult trading conditions.

The stock rose 1.85 marks after an initial negative reaction but fell back again to trade down 3.10 marks at 98.45 marks.

"The results did come in lower than hoped but although this is the case the move Deutsche shares have made is broadly in line with a weaker market," another trader said.

Daimler-Benz fell 1.90 marks to 126.30 marks after the company said sales in the first nine-months of the year rose 17% and operating profit climbed to 5.508bn marks.

Other bank and car stocks were all lower.

Paris

Paris stocks opened down 1.09%, after an unconvincing close on Wall Street provides little impetus for the market.

Traders expect the Cac to continue trading in a narrow range until concrete news brings investors in.

"Sentiment is improving but we need a trigger - some corporate activity for example - to make people realise that stocks are cheap," said one dealer.

The Cac 40 down 38.43 points, at 3,455.17 at 0906 GMT.