LONDON AP Share prices dropped sharply on European stock exchanges Tuesday in a swirl of gloom and profit-taking following big falls on Wall Street and in Asian markets. The London Stock Exchange Europe's largest set the pace with a fall of 3.6 percent on the Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-share index. ``We have seen quite a rally in the last week or so but investors are nervous'' said Tessa Kohn-Speyer investment analyst at Barclays Stockbrokers in London. ``There has been a lot of speculation that the market will fall back again so they have been trying to cash in on profits today.'' Key indexes were down 5.0 percent in Germany 4.2 percent in Milan and Zurich 4.0 percent in Paris 5.2 percent in Moscow 6.1 percent in Budapest 4.7 percent in Amsterdam 3.4 percent in Oslo 3.2 percent in Dublin and Madrid 2.7 percent Stockholm 2.1 percent in Prague and 1.3 percent in Copenhagen. ``There was just nothing supportive out there'' said Peter Caulkett of Teather-and-Greenwood in London. ``But there is a feeling that stocks had come up too far too soon and investors are now running scared.'' Dmitry Kulyashenits trader at Moscow investment bank MFK Renaissance commented ``There was profit-taking everywhere. Russia wasn't an exception.'' On Wall Street Monday the Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.3 percent in the first big wave of profit-taking since the market recovered strongly two months ago. The New York market steadied in morning trading Thursday with the Dow Jones index down 0.3 percent. Asian markets had followed New York's lead with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index down 4.1 percent Tuesday and Singapore's Straits Times Index off 3.4 percent. Tokyo was an exception with a mild 0.3 percent decline in the Nikkei 225-stock average. Local concerns contributed to the drops on some European exchanges. Analysts in Frankfurt said the declines in German stock prices partly reflected disappointment with Deutsche Bank's announcement that it expected no immediate savings from its takeover of Bankers Trust a U.S. investment bank. In Paris the CAC-40 index was down 4.0 percent led by 12.0 percent plunge in shares of Total. Investors deserted the petroleum company after it announced it was getting back into the refinery sector by acquiring Petrofina of Belgium. Ironically Petrofina shares soared 18 percent on the Brussels exchange. The Swiss Market Index was 2.7 lower in part because of profit-taking in the financial sector and a switch toward buying pharmaceutical stocks. rb-ms APW19981201.0639.txt.body.html APW19981201.0064.txt.body.html