London markets mixed on session

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Monday. Gainers included Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, which added 0.32 percent to 23,365.56. In Taiwan, the Taiex gained 0.37 percent to 9,621.57, while in India the Sensex was 1.07 percent higher to 15,732.2. In China, meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite closed at 4,213.36, a gain of 3.81 percent. The gains in Shanghai came after the People’s Bank of China raised interest rates and cut taxes on interest income in order to convince investors there to keep more of their money in the bank.

Decliners in the region included the Straits Times index in Singapore, which dropped 0.44 percent to 3,635.35. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries fell 0.45 percent to 6,427.8 and the S&P/ASX200 was 0.49 percent lower to 6,390.4. The Tokyo equities markets saw bigger declines as the Nikkei 225 and the Topix index each dropped 1.1 percent, to 17,963.64 and 1,757.29 respectively. Utilities again saw losses, while the telecommunications sector and construction machinery manufacturers also fell on the session.

Most European markets were higher on the session. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.58 percent higher to 1,609.07. In Madrid, the IBEX added 0.85 percent to 15,056.7, while the CAC-40 gained 0.87 percent to 6,009.16 in Paris and the Dax was 0.88 percent higher to 7,944.21 in Frankfurt. Carmakers were higher, as were tire manufacturers, the software sector and utilities. The oil sector also saw gains. On the other hand, truck manufacturers saw declines, as did chipmakers, retailers, property investors, the chemicals sector, and IT service providers.

The markets were mixed in London, with the FTSE 100 adding 0.6 percent to 6,624.4 but the FTSE 250 falling 0.38 percent to 11,775. Insurers did very well, while banks and retailers also saw gains. Property investment groups and home builders, however, did poorly on the session.

Wall Street was higher in midday trade as quarterly reports and mergers and acquisition news were in focus. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.81 percent higher to 13,963.34, while the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.54 percent to 2,702.01 and the S&P 500 gained 0.76 percent to 1,545.79. The Russell 3000 index of small and mid-caps was up 0.52 percent to 840.82. The oil drilling sector was higher on bids news, and there were also gains among equipment rental groups on sale announcements. Credit card providers saw gains on positive quarterly results. The pharmaceuticals sector was mostly higher, also on results news.

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