European markets in declines

European markets declined substantially on Tuesday after over a week of steady gains. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 1.81 percent to 1,488.92. In Frankfurt, the Dax fell 0.74 percent to 7,430.24. Madrid’s IBEX was 1.26 percent lower to 14,124.8, while the CAC-40 was down 2.08 percent to 5,474.17. Banks and insurers were lower, as were some in the engineering sector. The only gain on the CAC-40 came in the media sector, while utilities gained in Frankfurt. Airlines were mixed.

London’s markets were also lower on the session. The FTSE 100 fell 1.9 percent to 6,102.2 while the FTSE 250 dropped 1.6 percent to 10,793.8. UK banks joined others around the world in declines. Miners and gamers were also lower. Pubs operators, electricity generators, airlines, and builders saw gains.

Wall Street was lower at midday as investors waited for the release of the minutes from the most recent meeting of the US Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.09 percent to 13,176.87, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 1.27 percent to 2,528.67 and the S&P 500 had dropped 1.17 percent to 1,449. 69. Homebuilders were lower on data, while banks fell on negative broker comment.

Asia-Pacific equities markets were mixed. The Taiex added 0.11 percent to 8,727.55 in Taiwan. India’s Sensex gained 0.52 percent to 14, 919.19, while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.87 percent to 5,194.69 after going as high as a new record of 5,209.51 to bring the index’s gains to 94 percent for the year so far. In South Korea, the Kospi index was 1.46 percent higher to 1,829.31.

Decliners included the Australian markets, where the Sydney Ordinaries fell 0.12 percent to 6,177.3 and the S&P/ASX200 dropped 0.14 percent to 6,176.3. Elsewhere, the Hang Seng index was 0.91 percent lower to 23,363.76 in Hong Kong and Singapore’s Straits Times index closed at 3,343.

After posting gains early in the session, the Nikkei 225 ended the session in Tokyo at 0.09 percent lower to 16,287.49 and the Topix index fell 0.2 percent to 1,584.6. The Mothers market, however, managed a gain of 0.04 percent to 731.34. Shippers and glassmakers saw gains, while banks and the electronics sector declined.

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