FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Sentiment in the chip sector remains subdued in the wake of Intel 's results. The US semiconductor giant disappointed with its outlook for the current quarter and this also affected demand for chip stocks in Germany: Infineon shares fell by two percent ahead of schedule. They thus continued their mixed performance of the past few days, although the tech sector as a whole has had a particularly strong week. The shares of wafer supplier Siltronic and industry equipment supplier Aixtron also fell ahead of schedule.

Intel shares, which had almost made up for their year-to-date loss in recent days, slumped by around ten percent in after-hours US trading. The processor manufacturer forecast earnings of between 12.2 and 13.2 billion dollars for the current quarter, which was significantly less than the 14 billion expected by analysts on average. "Even if we assume that most investors had expected the forecasts to be missed, the outlook for the first quarter was extremely weak and significantly worse than feared," said analyst Stacy Rasgon from Bernstein Research.

Sentiment in the sector was also dampened by a pessimistic analyst opinion on chip manufacturer STMicroelectronics, which had issued a weak outlook the previous day. On Friday morning, Barclays Bank gave up its optimistic vote for the shares, whose price fell by 2.6 percent in Tradegate trading. Analyst Simon Coles justified his more cautious rating with his estimates, which are below consensus in the short term. The current share price in relation to the profit expectations also argued against an optimistic vote. The expert prefers Infineon shares as the Germans are less focused on industrial end markets, which are currently the weakest./tih/bek/mis