Equities: Asia-Pacific mixed as Europe gains, Wall Street declines

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Tuesday, with gains coming on a drop in crude oil prices overnight and gains in metals prices.

Among gainers, the Hang Seng added 0.12 percent to 23,057.99 and the Taiex was up 0.39 percent to 8,201.79.

In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.91 percent to 5,525.9 and the S&P/ASX200 was 0.95 percent higher to 5,422.7 while in India the Sensex jumped 1.96 percent to 15,696.9.

Decliners included the Straits Times Index, which was down 0.29 percent to 3,028.24, while South Korea’s Kospi index fell 0.57 percent to 1,750.71 on losses in the steel sector and the Shanghai Composite dropped 2.76 percent to 2,794.75 after financials declined on worries about government attempts to rein in inflation.

Tokyo’s markets were mixed, with the Nikkei 225 down 0.04 percent to 14,348.37 but the Topix index adding 0.02 percent to 1,401.98 and the Mothers market of small and mid-caps gaining 2.51 percent to 617.54.

In Tokyo, the utilities sector saw gains on the decline in crude oil prices while the steel sector was lower on broker downgrades.

Europe’s markets were higher on the session, with the FTSE Eurofirst 300 adding 0.55 percent to 1,269.86 while the IBEX was up 0.46 percent to 12,885.1, the CAC-40 was 0.61 percent higher to 4,686.33 and the Dax gained 0.98 percent to 9,796.16.

Banks, chipmakers and automobile manufacturers were all higher on the session, while the oil sector saw declines.

In London, the FTSE 100 added 1.16 percent to 5,861.9 and the FTSE 250 gained 0.92 percent to 9,723.9 as most banks and most in the real estate and utilities sector saw gains, as did the mining sector.

Early afternoon trade on Wall Street found US markets lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.65 percent to 12,189.37 while the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 were each down 0.41 percent, to 2,464.61 and 1,354.6 respectively.

Homebuilders were lower on the news that housing starts were down again and both national and regional banks were lower after Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) said it will have to raise $65 billion in new capital to make up losses, while the energy sector gained despite declines in crude oil prices.

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