Miners KAZ, IFL lead 100, 250 lower in London

European equities markets were lower Tuesday as miners fell on demand concerns amid slowing economies and falling commodities prices.

In London the FTSE 100 was down 0.56 percent to 5,415.6 and the FTSE dropped 1.42 percent to 9,138.2 as new data showed that manufacturing production in the UK was down in July for the fifth consecutive month.

The biggest declines, however, came in the mining sector, where Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) led decliners on the 100 with a drop of 9.28 percent and iron ore producer International Ferro Metals (LSE: IFL) dropped 14.55 percent for the biggest decline on the 250.

In the oil sector, Cairn Energy was down 7.78 percent to lead declines there.

There were gains, however, among travel related groups as TUI Travel (LSE: TT) added 3.02 percent and Carnival (LSE: CCL; NYSE: CCL) was up 4.01 percent and airlines British Airways (LSE: BAY; NYSE: BATS) and Ryan air (ISEQ: RYA; LSE: RYA; NAS: RYAAY) were up 4.05 percent and 6.3 percent respectively.

Most banks and most real estate developers were higher, while the retail sector was mixed.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.62 percent to 1,155.58 while the Dax dropped 0.48 percent to 6,233.41, the CAC-40 was 1.08 percent lower to 4,293.34 and the IBEX fell 1.77 percent to 11,350.

On the CAC-40, Air France-KLM (Euronext: AF; NYSE: AKH) led winners with a gain of 4.87 percent while the biggest loser was in the utilities sector as EDF (Euronext: EEN) dropped 6.27 percent.

ThyssenKrupp (FWB: TKA; LSE: THK) was the worst performer of the day on the Dax with a decline of 7.8 percent, while all Frankfurt indices were led by drug wholesaler Celesio (FWB: CLS) as it added 0.2 percent on an upgrade from “under perform” to “outperform”.

Most Asia-Pacific region equities markets were lower on the session after big gains on Monday as concerns about slowing economic growth globally returned to the front of investors’ minds.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 as 1.77 percent lower to 12,400.65 while the Topix index fell 1,191.59 and the Mothers market dropped 2.51 percent to 429.97.

Shares related to commodities were down, with shippers Mitsui OSK (TYO: 9104) and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (TYO: 9107) down 6.9 percent and 5.9 percent respectively, and trader Mitsui & Co (TYO: 8031) falling 8.1 percent.

The shippers were lower as fees dropped again, while exporters such as carmaker Honda (TYO: 7267; NYSE: HMC), with decline of 3.6 percent and camera and business machine manufacturer Canon (TYO: 7751; NYSE: CAJ), which was down 2.1 percent, dropped on a stronger yen.

Banks and chemicals groups were also down on the session.

In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries fell 1.65 percent to 5,041.9 and the S&P/ASX200 dropped 1.72 percent to 4,980.1 as banks and miners declined there.

In the banking sector, Macquarie Group Ltd. (ASX: MQG) dropped 7.3 percent on fears of more losses in credit markets after another forecast of further write downs for Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH), while among miners, gold producer Newcrest (ASX:NCM) was down 4.3 percent and BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP; LSE: BLT; NYSE: BHP) fell 4.1 percent as metals prices declined.

Elsewhere in the region, the Sensex was down 0.3 percent to 14,900.76 while the Straits Times Index fell 0.88 percent to 3,673.21, the Hang Seng was 1.46 percent lower to 20,491.11, the Kospi was down 1.5 percent to 1,454.5 and the Taiex dropped 3.51 percent to 6,424.77.

The Shanghai Composite again defied trends with a gain of 0.11 percent to 2,145.78.

New York equities markets were lower in early afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.58 percent to 11,444.22, the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.68 percent to 2,254.33 and the S&P 500 fell 1,252.35.

The declines came on new data from the National Association of Realtors that showed pending sales of existing homes was down 3.2 percent in July from June and had fallen 6.8 percent from the same month last year.

Banks were lower on concerns that Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) might not be able to raise enough capital to meet its obligations.

In early afternoon trade Lehman was down 33 percent, while Citigroup (NYSE: C) was 4 percent lower and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER; TYO: 8675) had dropped 5.8 percent.

Wall Street was down even though crude oil prices had dropped just over $2 to under $105 per barrel at early afternoon.

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