RIO leads miners, FTSE 100 higher

European equities markets saw gains Wednesday as miners, chipmakers and the steel sector saw gains.

In London the FTSE 100 added 0.97 percent to 5,371.8 while the FTSE 250 gained 0.33 percent to 8,897.3.

Miners saw gains on advances in metals prices, as Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) led the 100 with a gain of 7.43 percent and BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT; NYSE: BHP; ASX: BHP) added 6.71 percent.

In the oil sector, explorer Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW; OTC: TUWLY) was up 6.84 percent on an upgrade from “neutral” to “buy” from UBS (NYSE: UBS; SWX: UBSN; TYO: 8657), citing bits possibilities and drilling potential.

On the other hand, J Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY) dropped 3.67 percent after JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM; TYO: 8634) issued the retailer a downgrade from “overweight” to “neutral” on concerns that consumers will search for lower-priced retailers, hurting sales.

Among homebuilders, Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV) was down another 4.45 percent.

The Eurofirst 300 was 0.53 percent higher to 1,165.53 while Madrid’s IBEX was up 0.39 percent to 11,379.9, the Dax added 0.56 percent to 6,317.8 and the CAC-40 gained 0.76 percent to 4,365.87.

The semiconductors sector saw gains, with Infineon (FWB: IFX; NYSE: IFX) up 1.8 percent and STMicroelectronics (Euronext: STM; NYSE: STM) adding 2.43 percent.

Utilities and the steel sector saw gains, but carmakers and airlines were lower.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region saw gains Wednesday after markets in China surged on the possibility that the government there will intervene to support the market, perhaps spending as much as 400 billion yuan ($58 billion) to help China’s economy.

The Shanghai Composite jumped 7.63 percent to 20,931.26, while the Hang Seng added 2.18 percent to 20,931 in Hong Kong.

The real estate sector was up in China on hopes that the government will ease restrictions on developers, while insurers and brokers also saw gains.

Markets in Tokyo didn’t follow most of the rest of Asia up, however, as the Nikkei 225 was down 0.1 percent to 12,851.69 and the Topix index dropped 0.18 percent to 1,233.37 but the Mothers market of small and mid-caps added 1.67 percent to 451.65.

While the oil sector saw gains, shippers declined on a decline in the fees they can charge for carrying goods.

The electronics sector also saw declines, with camera maker Canon (TYO: 7751; NYSE: CAJ) down 2 percent while Matsushita Electric Industrial (TYO: 6572; NYSE: MC) fell 2.4 percent and Sony (TYO: 6758; NYSE: SNE) dropped 2.8 percent, but at the same time game maker Nintendo (TYO: 7974; NAS: NTDOY; FWB: NTO) was up 3.4 percent on a broker upgrade to “buy”.

Elsewhere in the region, the Straits Times Index added 0.86 percent to 2,751 while the Taiex was up 0.89 percent to 7,040.9 and the Sensex gained 0.92 percent to 14,678.23.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was 1.3 percent higher to 4,929.5 while the Sydney Ordinaries added 1.36 percent to 4,997.5.

South Korea’s Kospi declined slightly, dropping 0.05 percent to 1,540.71.

In early afternoon on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.09 percent to 11,338.05 while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.14 percent lower to 2,381.05 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.06 percent to 1,265.93 after being up earlier on a good earnings report from Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ).

Trucking companies were down even though oil prices fell after the US Energy Information Administration reported a bigger gain in crude oil inventories than had been anticipated.

One estimate has 88,000 trucks off the road in the first half of the year due to bankruptcies, taking out 4.5 percent of total capacity in the industry.

Railroads, however, were up on the lower oil prices and as demand for rail shipping has gone up 0.9 percent so far in the third quarter and the Rand Corp. reported that freight volume will likely double in the next three decades.

Story link: RIO leads miners, FTSE 100 higher