STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Lanxess, Continental hit by Nokian warning

Shares in German tyre maker Continental (LSE: 0LQ1.L - news) and Lanxess (LSE: 0H7I.L - news) , the world's biggest supplier of synthetic rubber to the tyre industry, are leading the German blue-chip index DAX (Xetra: ^GDAXI - news) lower following a profit warning from Finnish peer Nokian.

Nokian, whose shares are down over 9 percent on Friday after cutting its full-year outlook for the second time in two months, specialises in high-margin segment of winter tyres, a business that Continental also depends heavily on for profits at its tyre and rubber division.

"We won't get reliable indication for Continental's winter tyre business for at least another two to four weeks," says Metzler Bank analyst Juergen Pieper.

Investors should shrug off the bad news, he argues: "Nokian's profit warning was due to weakness in Russia, its biggest market, which represents no more than 2 percent of sales for Continental, so it's not all that relevant."

Russia accounts for roughly a third of all Nokian sales.

Shares in Michelin (Paris: FR0000121261 - news) , the world's second-largest tyre maker, trades 0.5 percent lower at 78.17 euros ($106.00).

Reuters messaging rm://christiaan.hetzner.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

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