Travel groups TT, TCG lower on gains in oil prices

European equities markets declined Monday on higher oil prices that hurt the retail and travel and leisure sectors even as Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium all banned short-selling of shares in some companies, following the example of the US and the UK as well as some Asia-Pacific nations.

In London, the FTSE 100 was down 1.41 percent to 5,236.26 while the FTSE 250 dropped 1.56 percent to 2,726.22.

In the travel and leisure sector, travel groups TUI Travel (LSE: TT) and Thomas Cook (L:SE: TCG.L) were down 3.75 percent and 7.14 percent respectively while among pubs operators Punch Taverns (LSE: PUB) was 10.04 percent lower and Enterprise Inns (LSE: ETI) dropped 11.67 percent.

Insurers were lower on the 100, with Royal & Sun Alliance (LSE: RSA) down 6.39 percent while Prudential (LSE: PRU; NYSE: PUK) fell 7.17 percent and Friends Provident (LSE: FP) had the worst day on the 100 with a decline of 8.75 percent.

Iron miners led the 250 as International Ferro (LSE: IFL) added 10.31 percent and Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) gained 10.88 percent, while the worst performer on the 250 was house builder Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW) with a decline of 13.18 percent.

Most banks and retailers were lower on the session.

The Eurofirst 300 was down 1.93 percent to 1,128.58 while the Dax fell 1.32 percent to 6,107.75, the IBEX was 1.98 percent lower to 11,328.5 and the CAC-40 dropped 2.34 percent to 4,223.51.

Retailer Carrefour (Euronext: CA) was down 5.59 percent while Irish airline Ryanair (ISEQ: RYA; LSE: RYA: NAS: RYAAY) fell 6.3 percent.

Irish banks suffered after Bank of Ireland (ISEQ: BKIR; LSE: BKIR; NYSE: IRE) had its debit and deposit ratings downgraded from “stable” to “negative” by Moody’s Investors Service, sending it down 9.8 percent while Anglo Irish Bank (ISEQ: ANGL; LSE: ANGL; FWB: CKL) dropped 16 percent on the session.

Most equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher after Australia and Taiwan joined the United States and the UK as well as several European nations in banning the short-selling of equities, with Taiwan banning the sales for 150 stocks when share prices go below the previous day’s close while Australia’s ban was wider in scope.

Also helping the advances was the US proposal that the government buy $700 billion in bad debt from banks.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was up 1.42 percent to 12,090.59 while the Topix index gained 1.7 percent to 1,168.69 but the Mothers market of small and mid-caps dropped 0.48 percent to 445.64.

Broker Nomura Holdings (TYO: 8604; NYSE: NMR; SGX: N33) added 9.6 percent on a report that it had won the right to buy Lehman Brothers’ Asian assets, while in the banking sector Mizuho Financial (TYO: 8411; NYSE: MFG) was up 2.9 percent and Resona Holdings (TYO: 8308) gained 10 percent.

Traders were higher on a rally in commodities prices.

Gains in metals prices also helped miners to advances throughout the region, while banks jumped on the US bailout plan.

Elsewhere in the region, the Kospi was up 0.31 percent to 1,460.34 while the Hang Seng added 1.58 percent to 19,632.2 and the Taiex gained 2.35 percent to 6,110.6.

In Australia, the government’s ban on short-selling of stocks boosted the Sydney Ordinaries by 4.33 percent to 5.050.1 while the S&P/ASX200 jumped 4.5 percent to 5,020.5.

The Shanghai Composite soared 7.77 percent to 2,236.41.

Decliners on the session included India’s Sensex, which dropped 0.34 percent to 13,994.96, and the Straits Times Index, which was down 0.58 percent to 2,544.13.

Wall Street was lower in early afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.13 percent to 11,146.31, the Nasdaq Composite was down 2.38 percent to 2,219.68 and the S&P 500 fell 2.34 percent to 1,225.67.

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) had their applications to become bank holding companies approved by the Federal Reserve over the weekend, which will allow them to operate as commercial banks as well as investment banks.

The move will benefit the banks in two ways, by allowing them to take deposits and by giving them access to the Fed’s emergency loan program, and puts them under the regulation of the Federal Reserve as well as the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Results were mixed for the two, with Morgan Stanley adding 2.9 percent in afternoon trade but at the same time Goldman Sachs was 4.19 percent lower.

Regional banks were lower as well, on the theory that they could be hurt by the government’s plan to buy up bad debts, which could force smaller and mid-sized banks which had mostly escaped harm in the mortgage crisis to write down assets.

Huntington Bancshares (NYSE: HBAN) was down 15 percent while Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) of Alabama fell 17 percent and Marshall & Ilsley (NYSE: MI) of Wisconsin dropped 22 percent.

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