PUB falls on declining revenues

Equities markets in Europe were lower Wednesday as worries about the state of the global economy and economies in the region continued.

In London, the FTSE 100 was down 2.15 percent to 5,499.7 while the FTSE 250 dropped 1.82 percent to 9,369.7.

Pubs operators were lower, led by Punch Taverns (LSE: PUB) which had the worst performance on the 250 with a decline of 12.15 percent on declining revenues and the abandonment of its dividend.

Consumer electronics retailer DSG International (LSE: DSGI) led gainers on the 250 as it added 8.06 percent on takeover rumors and even though revenues are down.

Most other retailers declined, as did most real estate developers, the oil and banking sectors, and miners, where the worst performer on the 100 was iron-ore producer Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) with a decline of 15.42 percent.

Elsewhere in Europe, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.52 percent while the IBEX was 0.46 percent lower to 11,849.1, the Dax fell 0.78 percent to 6,467.49 and the CAC-40 dropped 2.03 percent to 4,447.13.

The CAC-40 had only three winners, led by Dexia (Euronext: DEXB; LuxSE: DXB) with a gain of 3.47 percent, while the worst performance on the index was in the food and beverage sector as Danone (Euronext: BN) dropped 4.38 percent.

On the Dax, decliners were led by steel maker ThyssenKrupp (FWB: TKA; LSE: THK) with a decline of 2.34 percent.

Asia-Pacific regional equities markets were mixed on the session, with Tokyo markets higher but some others seeing declines.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.64 percent to 12,689.59 and the Topix index gained 0.7 percent to 1,220.55.

The oil sector and traders were lower after more declines in the price of oil.

Inpex (TYO: 1605) was down 3.9 percent to bring its losses this week to 14 percent, while among traders Mitsubishi Corp (TYO: 8058) was 4.6 percent lower, Marubeni (TYO: 8002) fell 6.1 percent and Mitsui and Company (TYO: 8031) dropped 7.3 percent.

On the other hand, carmakers saw gains as Toyota (TYO: 7203; NYSE: TM; LSE: TYT) added 2.1 percent and Honda (TYO: 7267; NYSE: HMC).

Construction machinery manufacturer Komatsu (TYO: 6301) was 7.1 percent lower on a broker downgrade which cited declines in demand.

Elsewhere in the region, Australia’s Sydney Ordinaries dropped 1.24 percent to 5,130.5 while the Shanghai Composite was 1.22 percent lower to 2,276.67, the Straits Times Index was down 1.9 percent to 2,706.53 in Singapore and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.17 percent to 20,585.06.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.31 percent to 11,481.34 in early afternoon trade, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.69 percent and the S&P 500 had fallen 0.59 percent to 1,269.98.

The declines came even though oil prices were lower again and factor orders were reported up more than anticipated in July.

The automobile manufacturing sector saw gains even though Ford (NYSE: F) reported that sales were down 26.5 percent in August.

General Motors (NSYE: GM), which was scheduled to report its August sales figures later in the session, was up 1.71 percent at the same time.

Computer-related shares were lower, with computer maker IBM (NSYE: IBM) down 2.7 percent while chipmakers Qualcomm (NAS: QCOM) and Intel (NAS: INTC) had dropped 3 percent and 4.3 percent respectively.

The steel sector was lower while most insurers saw gains.

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