SBRY, CPW buck retail declines on broker upgrades

London’s equities markets saw gains on Monday, with the FTSE 100 adding 1.85 percent to 5,512.7 while the FTSE 250 gained 1.26 percent to 8,623.

Even though most retailers saw declines, supermarket chain Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY) and mobile-phone retailer Carphone Warehouse (LSE: CPW) both saw gains after JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) upgraded the grocer from “neutral” to “overweight” and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) resumed their coverage of Carphone Warehouse with a “buy” recommendation.

Otherwise in London, the oil sector was higher and most miners saw gains, while banks were mixed and most in the real estate sector saw gains.

In Europe, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1.34 percent to 1,178.69 with the CAC-40 adding 1.8 percent to 4,342.59 in Paris while Madrid’s IBEX was 1.84 percent higher to 11,982 and in Frankfurt the Dax gained 1.97 percent to 6,395.75.

Airlines gained on data showing that the numbers of passengers were up in June and on declines in oil prices, while the aerospace sector, utilities and the steel sector saw gains, the pharmaceuticals sector was mixed, and banks and automobile makers saw declines on the session.

Most equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region saw gains as banks were forecast to see higher earnings.

The main exception were Australia’s markets, where the Sydney Ordinaries fell 1.51 percent to 5,091.7 and the S&P/ASX200 dropped 1.57 percent to 5,002.5 on declines in commodities-related shares due to declines in oil and metals prices.

Nickel producer Minara Resources Ltd. (ASX: MRE) dropped 16 percent on a broker downgrade from “neutral” to “underperform”.

In Tokyo, gains came on investors’ belief that shares are now a bargain in relation their earnings.

The Nikkei 225 added 0.92 percent to 13,360.04 while the Topix index was up 1.15 percent to 1,312.8 and the Mothers market of small and mid-caps gained 0.61 percent to 543.59.

Banks, real estate developers and retailers all saw gains, while traders suffered losses on the declines in commodities prices.

Elsewhere in the region the Kospi index was up 0.11 percent to 1,579.72 while India’s Sensex added 0.54 percent to 13,525.99, the Straits Times Index was 1.44 percent higher to 2,934.12, Taiwan’s Taiex gained 1.56 percent to 7,341 percent, the Hang Seng added 2.28 percent to 21,913.06, and the Shanghai Composite jumped 4.59 percent to 2,792.4.

In late afternoon trade on Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.12 percent to 11,301.65 and the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.53 percent to 2,257.36 after earlier declines for both indices but the S&P 500 remained in negative territory with a decline of 0.16 percent to 1,260.83.

The S&P is near a six-year low, having lost around 20 percent since October.

The Dow and Nasdaq both gained late in the session as banks came up off lows and technology shares, including IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Yahoo (NAS: YHOO) held onto gains.

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