Most Asian, European markets lower on session

Global equities markets were mixed on Thursday. Most equities markets in Asia were lower, while in the Pacific region the Sydney Ordinaries were up just slightly, adding 0.11 percent to 6,142.8. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dropped 0.34 percent to 20,380.21, while the Sensex was 0.53 percent lower to 13,113.81 in India. The Straits Times index in Singapore fell 0.91 percent to 3,372.69.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.73 percent to 17,540.42, while the Topix index was 1.1 percent lower to 1,719.52. Rising oil prices and new worries about where the US economy is headed were key in the declines. The semiconductors sector, which finds much of its market in the United States, was lower. The automobile manufacturing sector was down 1 percent as a whole, with Nissan Motor down not only due to the generally negative position of export-focused stocks on the session, but also after a cut in its target share price by JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM; TYO: 8634). The real estate sector also saw declines, falling 0.9 percent as a whole.

European markets were lower on the session, with the FTSE Eurofirst 300 falling 0.31 percent to 1,542.39. In Paris, the CAC-40 dropped 0.05 percent to 5,748.97, while the Xetra Dax was 0.14 percent lower to 7,142.95 in Frankfurt. Effiage (Euronext: FGR) had the biggest decline on the 300 as investors believed that Spanish builder Sacyr Vallehermoso (IBEX-35: VAL) will sell a large part of its 33 percent stake in the French builder, deflating expectations of a takeover bid. Puma (OTC: PMMA) saw its share price decrease after the chief executive of PPR (Euronext: PPR) said that it would not raise it’s bid for the German company. Gainers by midday included steel maker ThyssenKrupp (FWB: TKA; LSE: THK), which was higher on anticipated growth of pre-tax profits.

The London markets were mixed, with the FTSE 100 0.05 percent higher to 6,416.4 but the FTSE 250 lower by 0.51 percent to 11,894.70. Home builders were lower again. The biggest losers in the sector included Slough Estates (LSE: SLOU), Land Securities (LSE: LAND) and Brixton (LSE: BXTN). Hammerson (LSE: HMSO) declined despite possible bid interest from private equity. Brewers were mixed on the session after SAB Miller (LSE: SAB), which had the best performance of the day on the 100, after it denied that will bid for Scottish & Newcastle (LSE: SCTN). The pharmaceuticals sector was higher on the session.

On Wall Street, the markets were higher in early afternoon trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.26 percent to 12,517.7, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.58 percent to 2,473.65 and the S&P 500 was 0.3 percent higher to 1,443.17. The Russell 2000 index of small and mid-caps also gained 0.3 percent, to 810.64. The retail sector was mixed, with Costco (NAS: COST) higher but Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) down at midday. Both retailers had sales higher than estimates in the most recent data, but questions remain about how Wal-Mart will perform in April. Research in Motion (TSX: RIM; NAS: RIMM), the Canadian company that makes the BlackBerry handheld communications device saw a significant decline even though its fiscal first quarter sales were up by 66 percent after it revealed that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a formal investigation into its practices regarding the granting of stock options. In the pharmaceuticals sector, Genentech (NSYE: DNA) was lower despite first quarter profits that were up 68 percent. The decline came on news that first quarter sales of two of its cancer treatments were lower.

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