Tech stocks drag European shares lower as Dassault results disappoint

Feb 11 (Reuters) – European shares fell on Wednesday, weighed by technology stocks after France’s Dassault Systèmes results disappointed investors, as worries persist ​about the repercussions that newer artificial ‌intelligence models could have on traditional businesses.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 0.2% to 619.66 points by 0820 GMT, with France’s CAC 40 index dropping the most among regional ‌benchmarks, ​down 0.3%.

After an initial trading ⁠halt, software maker ⁠Dassault tanked nearly 20% after reporting quarterly results, with fourth-quarter revenue rising just 1% at constant currency to 1.68 billion euros ($2.00 billion), at the ​lower end of guidance.

Dassault was among the stocks that took a hit last week as ⁠AI-disruption worries swept through global ⁠markets. The broader technology sector fell ​2% and led sectoral declines.

Similarly, insurance undefined stocks took the ​brunt of the hit this week after ‌the release of the Insurify ChatGPT tool, after which brokerage Barclays downgraded the European sector to ‘Underweight’. The sector <.SXIP> has lost nearly 2% this week.

Investors ⁠instead preferred hardware makers such as Siemens Energy , which gained 5.2% after the AI equipment maker said net profit nearly tripled ⁠in the ‌first three months of its fiscal ⁠year.

Among others, London Stock Exchange Group ​gained ‌2.7% after a report that activist hedge ​fund Elliott ⁠Management built a significant stake in the data provider.

Heineken added 4.4% after saying it would cut up to 6,000 jobs from its global workforce.

($1 = 0.8393 euros)

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by ​Rashmi Aich)