Lisbon stock index drops, pulled down by Portugal Telecom
The Lisbon stock market fell by more than 3.0 percent in morning trading on Friday, pulled down by a plunge of shares in Portugal Telecom, reflecting uncertainty about the company's future.
The Lisbon PSI stock index was showing a fall of 3.14 percent to 5,111.64 points, the lowest level for more than two years.
The price of shares in Portugal Telecom dropped 9.82 percent to 1.28 euros.
Shares in the company had plunged 12.92 percent on Thursday, pulled down by its parent company in Brazil, Oi.
Shares in Oi had fallen two days after its chief executive Zeinal Bava had resigned.
This came after a surge of 5.0 percent in the value of Portugal Telecom shares on Monday in response to reports that telecom group Altice, which controls expanding French operator Numericable, might be interested in buying Portugal Telecom's assets in Portugal.
If a deal were done, Oi could use the proceeds to buy the Brazilian subsidiary of Italian group Telecom Italia, or to reduce debt.
However, Portugal Telecom, which was badly hit by the collapse of Banco Espirito Santo, is in the process of being merged with Oi in an operation intended to create the biggest telecom operator in Portugese-speaking markets with more than 100 million customers and 30,000 staff.
Altice is already active in Portugal. In 2012 it bought Portuguese cable operator Cabovisao and in 2013, Oni, a company specialising in offering telecom services to businesses.
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