exposed European firms. "The reaction is very severe to those stocks that are perceived to have high U.S. dollar exposure," said Rita Dhut, head of European equities at Morley Fund Management. BAE Systems, Europe's biggest defence equipment maker, was among the biggest losers after it said an earlier than expected decline in profit margins at its customer solutions and support business would hold back its performance next year. Drug makers AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Roche fell more than 1 percent each, hit by the dollar's woes, but some fund managers said the concerns about the impact on earnings seemed overdone. "Pharma has been hit very hard in share price terms. The valuations are at ten-year lows and a lot of these companies are still growing at double digits," Dhut said, adding that the fund remained bullish on the sector.
