Most of Asia sees gains; Europe, US equities decline on session

After a day of gains on Monday that followed a week of declines, European equities markets were down again on Tuesday. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.44 percent lower to 1,575.42. Xetra Dax was down 0.36 percent to 7,678.26 in Frankfurt, while the Paris CAC-40 dropped 0.71 percent to 5,898.16 and the IBEX fell 1.18 percent to 14,764.3 in Madrid. In London the FTSE 100 was down 0.72 percent to 6,520.4, while the FTSE 250 was 0.46 percent lower to 11,581.5.

On the continent media and aerospace saw advances, as did components of the engineering and hotels sectors. Automobile manufacturers and utilities were mixed on the session, while the construction sector was lower. Meanwhile in the UK, homebuilders were higher. So was aerospace. Banks were lower after disappointing reports on market share, while he biggest loser on the 250 was in the waste management sector

The Asia-Pacific region was mixed. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries were 0.15 percent higher to 6,267.7. In Asia, the Hang Seng index was 0.1 percent higher to 20,636.39 in Hong Kong, while the Sensex added 0.34 percent to 14,130.95 in India and in Singapore the Straits Times index gained 0.74 percent to 3,561.54. The exception in Asia was Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.41 percent to 17,760.91 and the Topix index ended the session at 1,751.61, a decline of 0.54 percent. Tokyo’s declines were fed by the shipping and airlines sectors, while there were gains in the oil and electronics sectors. Consolidation news helped the food and beverages sector.

At mid-session in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 0.43 percent to 13,367.66, while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.42 percent lower to 2,561.41 and the S&P 500 fell 0.42 percent as well to 1,502.83. Investors were worried about interest rates and upcoming sales and inflation data. There were gains in the financial services sector, while retail, oil, semiconductors and software all saw declines.

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