ANTO leads miners higher in London amid wider declines

Banks and airlines led declines in European equities markets Monday on concerns that there will be more losses for banks in the credit crisis and that the global economy will continue to slow because of those losses.

Declines in London were limited by gains in the mining sector, where Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) led the FTSE 100 with a gain of 7.14 percent as metals prices rose on the session.

The 100 was down 0.75 percent to 5,312.6 while the FTSE 250 dropped 1.7 percent to 8,716.7 as most in the oil sector also saw gains but insurers, the real estate and travel and leisure sectors, and most retailers saw declines.

In the wider European markets, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.9 percent to 1,159.03 while Madrid’s IBEX fell 0.91 percent to 11,484.6, the Paris CAC-40 was 1.2 percent lower to 4,324.45 and the Dax dropped 1.33 percent to 6,351.15 in Frankfurt.

Among airlines, Ryanair (ISEQ: RYA; LSE: RYA; NAS: RYAAY) dropped 14 percent after it said it could suffer its first full year loss since 1997, while chipmakers also saw declines, utilities and carmakers were mixed, and the steel sector, oil companies and the food and beverage sector all saw gains on the session.

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed, but among individual companies gains outpaced declines by around 4 winning stocks for every three that declined.

Tokyo’s markets saw gains, with the Nikkei up 0.14 percent to 13,353.78 while the Topix index added 0.19 percent to 1,300.79 and the Mothers market of small and mid caps gained 2.97 percent to 533.55.

The automobile manufacturing sector saw declines after Honda Motor (TYO: 7267; NYSE: HMC) cut its goal for operating profits for the full year by 3.1 percent due to increased costs and declines in sales, while chip making testing equipment manufacturer Advantest (TYO: 6857; NYSE: ATE) was also lower on a reduced earnings forecast.

On the other hand, traders saw gains on higher prices for commodities, wireless carriers jumped on speculation that operating profits for NTT DoCoMo (TYO: 9437) could see higher operating profits for the quarter ending 30 June compared to the same period last year, and internet related shares were higher on good quarterly reports within the sector.

Other gainers in the region included South Korea’s Kospi index, which added 0.02 percent to 1,598.29 while India’s Sensex was 0.52 percent higher to 14,349.11 and the Shanghai Composite gained 1.32 percent to 2,903.01.

The Hang Seng, on the other hand, was down 0.24 percent to 22,687.21, the Straits Times Index fell 0.43 percent to 2,910.36, and Taiwan’s Taiex was 1.82 percent lower to 7,233.62.

In Australia the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.82 percent to 4,989.9 and the S&P/ASX200 was down 0.97 percent to 4,922.9 on declines in the financial sector after Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ASX: ANZ; NZX: ANZ) said that earnings per share could drop by as much as 20 to 25 percent in the year ending 30 September.

In early afternoon trade in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 1.45 percent to 11,206.06 while the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.17 percent to 2,283.49 and the S&P500 was 0.91 percent lower to 1,246.28.

Banks were lower after the International Monetary Fund said that the housing slump in the United States will not end anytime soon, with Citigroup (NYSE: C) down 4.4 percent and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC; TYO: 8648) falling 1.3 percent, but despite concerns about the housing market Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) added 1.3 percent and 3.3 percent respectively after the US Senate voted over the weekend to offer help to the lenders and President George W. Bush said he would sign the bill.

Food processors were mixed with chicken processor Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) down 6.2 percent after it reported that profits dropped last quarter as feed prices went up, but Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) added 4.9 percent on its first quarterly increase in net income in a year.

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