BARC, BNP, BAC lead banks lower in Europe, US

European equities markets were lower Thursday as the banking sector saw declines on concerns that banks will need to raise more cash to stay afloat after predictions of more losses to be reported.

In London, losses on the FTSE 100 were led by Lloyds TSB (LSE: LLOY) with a decline of 11.35 percent, followed by Barclays (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642), which fell 8.23 percent and HSBC Holdings (LSE: HSBA; NYSE: HBC; Euronext: HSBC; SEHK: 005) at a drop of 7.01 percent.

Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) bucked the trend as it added 2.82 percent.

Meanwhile, over on the CAC-40 in Paris, BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) turned in the worst performance of the day as it dropped 6.55 percent while at the same time Dexia (Euronext: DX) was down 5.38 percent and Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) was 5.11 percent lower on the session.

In Frankfurt, Commerzbank (FWB: CBK) fell 10.38 percent on the Dax while Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) dropped 5.48 percent.

Still on the Dax, conglomerate Siemens (FWB: SIE; NYSE: SI) went from the worst performer during Wednesday’s session to the best performer of the day as it added 2.2 percent today.

In London, the FTSE 100 fell 1.42 percent to 4,121.11 while the FTSE 250 dropped 2.49 percent to 6,204.97.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.21 percent to 794.44 as the IBEX fell 0.94 percent to 8,611.1, the CAC-40 was 1.84 percent lower to 2,995.88 and the Dax dropped 1.94 percent to 4,336.73.

Equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on the decline in US retail sales, announced by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, and after Japanese machinery orders fell by 16.2 percent in November from October’s numbers.

The decline in machinery orders was more than double the expected drop, and both sets of data were taken as indications that the global recession is deepening.

In Tokyo, shippers, the electronics sector, and tire makers all saw declines on the session.

The tire sector fell after Goldman Sachs cut its recommendation on the sector to “sell”, citing declining demand.

The Nikkei 225 fell 4.92 percent to 8,023.31 in Tokyo, while the Topix index was down 2.86 percent to 795.99 and the Mothers market dropped 1.53 percent to 330.2.

Elsewhere in the region, the Shanghai Composite was 0.45 percent lower to 1,920.21, the Hang Seng fell 3.37 percent to 13,242.96, the Straits Times Index dropped 3.44 percent to 1,704.06 and the Sensex was down 3.46 percent to 9,046.74.

In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries fell 4.07 percent to 3,476.8 and the S&P/ASX200 was down 4.27 percent to 3,529.5, while in Taiwan the Taiex was 4.44 percent lower to 4,320.77 and South Korea’s Kospi dropped 6.03 percent to 1,111.34.

Banks were lower as Wall Street saw more declines.

In early afternoon trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.18 percent to 8,021.33 while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.71 percent to 1,464.17 and the S&P 500 had dropped 2.59 percent to 820.8.

The declines in the banking sector came on the news that the federal government might need to put more cash into Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) due to losses at Merrill Lynch, which BofA just formally acquired at the beginning of the month, and banks were down even after JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) reported that it had avoided a loss in the fourth quarter, posting earnings of $702 million but said it could see losses if the economy continues to do badly.

JP Morgan was down 0.27 percent while Citigroup (NYSE: C), which is expected to say soon that it must make further adjustments as its problems continue, was down 14.35 percent in afternoon trade.

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