European shares were weaker yesterday afternoon though still hovering just below their best levels for the year, with Germany's Bayer lifted by bullish broker comment ahead of its results today.

Oil stocks helped to underpin markets further, buoyed as crude oil prices rose after fears of supply disruptions were triggered by a bombing in Saudi Arabia at the weekend.

On the downside, technology, Europe's best performing sector so far this year with gains of more than 42 per cent, was hardest hit, down one per cent as Infineon and Nokia eased.

Healthcare stocks also lost ground as AstraZeneca dropped 1.8 per cent on speculation that US rival Pfizer may be stealing the high ground in the fight against cholesterol.

Pfizer, which already markets the top-selling cholesterol fighter Lipitor, has rights to co-market a novel injectable drug that helps clear clogged arteries.

Europe's biggest biotechnology firm Serono of Switzerland shed 3.4 per cent to 913 Swiss francs after the group launched a 600 million Swiss franc bond convertible into its own shares.

Dealers said overall market momentum was still fundamentally positive.

"I don't think there has been any change of sentiment. The market needs a break and I am not worried. There is a good chance that we go even higher after we have settled for a few days," said Peter Luedke, a dealer at Munich private bank Merck Finck.

"Tomorrow we have Bayer, which should give us some direction. There won't be many disappointing third quarter reports so that should support the market," Luedke said.

By 1456 GMT, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index was off 0.25 per cent at 939 points, easing a touch from Friday's 2003 high of 945.63 points as investors have nagging worries about pushing the market too far too fast.