DEB adds 20 percent on session

Europe’s equities markets were higher Tuesday, with some of the biggest gains in London as the FTSE 100 added 1.29 percent to 4,638.92 and the FTSE 250 gained 1.98 percent to 6,879.01.

The retail sector saw gains despite falling sales as Debenhams (LSE: DEB) added 20.18 percent for the session’s best performance on the 250, while Next (LSE: NXT) was up 12.47 percent and Marks & Spencer (LSE: MKS) gained 3.8 percent despite expectations that it will announce cuts of over 1,000 jobs from stores, management, and support.

The gains also came even though Nationwide Building Society reported consumer sentiment at its lowest since 2004.

Miners were also higher, led by Xstrata (LSE: XTA) with a gain of 13.43 percent, as base metals prices saw gains.

Banks were mixed, with Lloyds TSB (LSE: LLOY) turning in the worst performance of the session on the 100 with a decline of 5.33 percent, but in the consumer finance sector Cattles (LSE: CTT) added 19.19 percent a day after gaining 22.5 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 1.9 percent to 889.57 while the IBEX was up 0.83 percent to 9,724, the Dax was 0.85 percent higher to 5,026.31 and the CAC-40 gained 1.08 percent to 3,396.22.

There were only four losers on the CAC-40, while the best performance of the day on the Paris exchange came from the steel sector as ArcelorMittal (Euronext: MT; NYSE: MT; BMAD: MTS; LuxSE: MT) added 13.64 percent.

Over on the Dax, the biggest gainer of the day was carmaker Volkswagen (FWB: VOW), which added 11.88 percent, while elsewhere in the motor vehicle manufacturing sector truck maker Man (FWB: EDF1) was up 3.8 percent and Peugeot (Euronext: UG) gained 1.89 percent.

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were also higher.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.42 percent to 9,080.84 while the Topix index gained 0.03 percent to 876.2 and the Mothers market jumped 4.05 percent to 343.88.

Gains came on a weaker yen that helped exporters and on gains in the semiconductor sector as chip prices rose.

Elpida Memory (TYO: 6665) was up 2.8 percent while NEC Electronics (TYO: 6701; NAS: NIPNY) added 3.4 percent and Tokyo Electron (TYO: 8035) gained 5.8 percent.

Rising chip prices also helped the electronics sector elsewhere in the region as South Korea’s Hynix Semiconductor (KRX: 000660) added 2.4 percent and Samsung Electronics (KRX: 005930, 005935; LSE: SMSN, SMSD) was 4.6 percent higher.

India’s Sensex added 0.58 percent to 10,335.93 and the Taiex was up 0.62 percent to 4,727.26 while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries gained 1.38 percent to 3,689.2 and the S&P/ASX200 was 1.51 percent higher to 3,742.7.

South Korea’s Kospi added 1.76 percent to 1,194.28 while the Shanghai Composite gained 3 percent to 1,937.14.

Among decliners on the session, the Hang Seng was down 0.35 percent to 15,509.51 and the Straits Times Index dropped 0.58 percent to 1,913.66.

In early afternoon trade in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.28 percent to 8,978.06 while the Nasdaq Composite had added 1.25 percent to 1,648.35 and the S&P 500 had gained 0.44 percent to 931,54.

The markets were higher despite a new report from the National Association of Realtors showing that pending home sales were at their lowest ever in November, while a separate report from the Commerce Department said that factory orders were down 4.6 percent in November, much more of a decline than had been anticipated.

The Institute for Supply Management had better news, relatively speaking, when it reported that the services sector in the US did not contract at as fast a pace in December as it has recently.

Rises in chip prices helped the US semiconductor sector and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite as Intel (NAS: INTC) added 3.22 percent in afternoon trade while Nvidia (NAS: NVDA) gained 5.19 percent.

Story link: DEB adds 20 percent on session