Shares in French bank BNP Parisbas fell in morning trading on Wednesday on rumours over a possible capital increase and uncertainty over its acquisition of the Belgian operations of finance group Fortis.

BNP`s shares were showing a drop of 8.50 percent to 37.34 euros in an overall Paris market which was down 0.80 percent. The stock had fallen by 5.13 percent on Tuesday.

The new fall comes after a Belgian court rejected on Tuesday a bid by Fortis shareholders to suspend the sale of its Belgian activities to BNP. But the court also ordered an enquiry into whether the sale price was high enough.

`The court`s decision is obviously good news for the French bank, but it doesn`t completely erase all the uncertainties,` analysts at investment bank Nexis Securities said.

In particular, they pointed to the time it would take for the expert group looking into the sale price to make its decision on its fairness and the risk that price might rise.

Small shareholder groups which originally brought the case to the Brussels trade court have also announced they would appeal against the ruling, which also risks delaying the deal.

According to one trader however `there is no other option than that of BNP which is an ideal partner` in terms of the sale. The court`s ruling, he said, `changes nothing` for BNP.

BNP also continues to be dogged by rumours of a capital increase, Natixis says, particularly since the bank`s capital-to-risk ratio is considered low.

Natixis said that a capital increase looked almost inevitable after a similar move by Santander at a time when the Spanish banking giant appeared in good health and had previously assured that it did not need any more funds.

Shares in BNP, France`s leading bank, have lost nearly a third of their value in the last two weeks and are trading at levels not seen for five-and-a-half years.

The bank revealed earlier this month that its third-quarter net profit plunged 55 percent from the figure 12 months earlier to 901 million euros (1.16 billion dollars) as it covered losses in the global credit crunch.