Miners ENRC, TALV lead London markets lower

European equities markets were lower Wednesday, hurt by US retail sales data and by gains in unemployment in the UK, where those claiming jobless benefits grew to 939,900, a gain of 31,800 in September, as well as by widespread doubts that measures being taken by governments to protect banks will not be enough to avert recession on a global scale.

The FTSE 100 was 7.16 percent lower to 4,079.59 in London, while the FTSE 250 dropped 5.46 percent to 6,707.12, led lower by miners, which declined sharply on declines in base metals prices.

The top four losers on the 100 and all five top losers on the 250 were miners, led by Eurasiasn (LSE: ENRC), which dropped 25.17 percent on the 100 and by Finland-based nickel miner Talvivaara (LSE: TALV) with a decline of 25.72 percent on the 250.

Iron ore producer International Ferro (SLE: IFL), Gem Diamonds (LSE: GEMD), Aricom (LSE: ORE), Hochschild (LSE: HOC), Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ), and Anglo American (LSE: AAL) all lost between 20 and 25 percent on the session.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 6.46 percent to 903.67 while the IBEX fell 5.06 percent, the Dax was 6.49 percent lower to 4,861.63 and the CAC-40 dropped 6.82 percent to 3,381.07.

There were no winners on the CAC-40, while losers on the Paris index were led by Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext: ALU; NYSE: ALU; TYO: 6687) in the telecommunications sector with a drop of 16.2 percent.

The biggest winner, of only two, on the Dax was carmaker Volkswagen (FWB: VOW) with a gain of 12.2 percent while losers were led by engineering group Siemens (FWB: SIE; NYSE: SI), which dropped 14.04 percent.

Steelmakers in the region saw big declines, with ThyssenKrupp (FWB: TKA; LSE: THK) down 11.32 percent as ArcelorMittal (Euronext: MT; NYSE: MT; BMAD: MTS; LuxSE: MT) dropped 13.67 percent.

Most Asia-Pacific equities markets were lower on concerns that earnings in the region will suffer despite initiatives by global governments to help banks come through the current crisis in the financial sector.

Bucking the trend, some of Tokyo’s indices saw gains.

While the Topix index dropped 0.08 percent to 955.51, the Nikkei was up 1.06 percent to 9,547.47 while the Mothers market gained 4.33 percent to 316.6.

Shippers in Tokyo, like those region-wide, were lower on declines and cargo fees and a cut in target share prices by brokers.

Motor vehicle manufacturers were also down, with Honda (TYO: 7267; NYSE: HMC) down 5.2 percent as Mazda Motor (TYO: 7261) fell 9.24 percent on reports that it will not build a second assembly plant in the United States as planned and motorcycle maker Yamaha Motor (TYO: 7272) fell 10 percent on a broker downgrade to “sell”.

The pharmaceuticals sector saw gains, with Astellas Pharma (TYO: 4503) up 3.6 percent and Takeda Pharmaceutical (TYO: 4502) adding 6.22 percent.

Utilities also saw gains as Tohoku Electric Power (TYO: 9506) added 6.7 percent and Tokyo Gas (TYO: 9531) gained 8.01 percent.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 was down 0.81 percent to 4,300 and the Sydney Ordinaries fell 0.9 percent to 4,272.5, while Taiwan’s Taiex was 0.86 percent lower to 5,246.26, the Shanghai Composite dropped 1.12 percent to 1,994.67, the Kospi fell 2 percent to 1,340.28, the Straits Times Index was down 3.24 percent to 2,059.39, the Hang Seng was 4.96 percent lower to 15,998.3 and India’s Sensex dropped 5.87 percent to 10,809.12.

Metals-related shares were down regionally on concerns about demand, while the oil sector declined on another drop in the price of crude oil.

BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP; LSE: BLT; NYSE: BHP) was down 4.2 percent in Australia while Japan’s Inpex (TYO: 1605) fell 5.9 percent and CNOOC (SEHK: 0883; NYSE: CEO) dropped 6.3 percent in Hong Kong.

New York equities markets were hurt by a 1.2 percent decline in US retail sales in September, nearly twice the decline that had been expected, and by comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said in a speech Wednesday that helping credit markets won’t automatically solve all the problems in the economy.

At just before 2 p.m. local time in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 5.35 percent to 8,812.47 while the Nasdaq Composite had fallen 5.45 percent to 1,682.04 and the S&P 500 had dropped 6.42 percent to 933.92.

Homebuilders were lower on negative comments from analysts, who said that mortgage rates that continue to be high and fallout from the financial crisis will continue to hurt the housing market.

Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH) was down 10.71 percent while Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV) fell 11.95 percent, Centex Homes (NYSE: CTX) was 12.55 percent lower, D. R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) was down 12.91 percent and Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) dropped 14.21 percent, all in afternoon trade.

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