European markets lower, Asia mixed on session

At midday in New York on Tuesday, markets were mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.17 percent to 12,941.91, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.17 percent to 2,519.31 and the S&P 500 was 0.15 percent lower to 1,478.75. Earnings news again drove much of the activity on Wall Street, with most of the news good, even if it did not translate to gains for the day in all cases. Home builders were lower after existing home sales were lower than had been expected due to the problems among subprime mortgage lenders.

In the Asia and Pacific regions, equities markets were again mixed. The Sydney Ordinaries were lower, dropping 0.31 percent to 6,173.3. Elsewhere, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong closed 0.08 percent higher to 20,572.52, while in India the Sensex gained 1.5 percent to 14,136.72. In Tokyo, the markets saw very little movement, with the Nikkei 225 closing at 17,451.77, down just 0.02 percent, and the Topix index ending the session up 0.03 percent to 1,706.16.

Losers on the day in Tokyo included the glass sector. The declines came on an announcement by the European Commission that several glassmakers, including the European units of two Japanese glass manufacturers, are alleged to have engaged in price-fixing and collusion. There were gains on the day in the automobile manufacturing sector as well as among copier and camera makers.

The European equities markets were lower on the session. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 0.86 percent to 1,564.42, while the CAC-40 was 0.53 percent lower to 5,886.03 in Paris and the Xetra Dax dropped 0.89 percent to 7270.32 in Frankfurt. The Spanish construction sector was in focus in Europe as companies in the sector saw declines in reaction to a weak real estate sector.

In London, the FTSE 100 was down 0.77 percent to 6,429.5, while the FTSE 250 fell 0.9 percent to 11,816.9. There were declines in the publishing sector, as well as among banks. The oil sector saw losses due to first quarter declines in profits for at least one oil company due to lower prices during at least part of the quarter.

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