Banks again in focus as RBS adds 21 percent

European equities markets were mixed Wednesday as banks staged a comeback but the oil sector saw declines despite gains in crude oil prices.

In London, the FTSE 100 was down 0.77 percent to 4,059.88 but the FTSE 250 added 0.28 percent to 6,159.5.

Banks were mostly higher, with Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS; NYSE: RBS PRM) leading winners on the 100 as it added 21.36 percent even as Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) topped losers on the index, dropping 9.33 percent on the session.

Retailers were mixed in London, with Debenhams (LSE: DEB) adding 14.42 percent to lead gainers in the sector.

Banks were also mixed in the rest of the region as Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) led the CAC-40 with a gain of 10.29 percent and Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) added 4.63 percent but Commerzbank (FWB: DBK) dropped 1.55 percent on the Dax.

Property investor Unibail-Rodamco (Euronext: UL) turned in the worst performance on the CAC-40 as it dropped 3.17 percent.

The oil sector was lower in the region as Total (Euronext: FP; NYSE: TOT) was down 2.11 percent and BP (LSE: BP; NYSE: BP; TYO: 5051) dropped 2.46 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.94 percent to 767.23 while the IBEX fell 0.55 percent to 8,230.7 and the CAC-40 dropped 0.67 percent to 2,905.57 but the Dax added 0.5 percent to 4,261.15 in Frankfurt.

Asia-Pacific markets were mostly lower again on concerns that losses b y banks will make the recession worse and cause it to last longer.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 2.04 percent to 7,901.64 while the Topix index fell 2.22 percent to 787.15 and the Mothers market of small and mid-caps dropped 1.59 percent to 324.63.

Banks and insurers saw declines.

In the insurance sector T & D Holdings (TYO: 8795) was down 8.3 percent while Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings (TYO: 8725) fell 11 percent, while among Japanese banks Mitsubishi UFJ (TYO: 8306; NYSE: MTU) was 3.8 percent lower, Mizuho Financial (TYO: 8411; NYSE: MFG) was down 4.8 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui (TYO: 8316) fell 5.4 percent and regional Bank of Yokohama (TYO: 8332) dropped 7.4 percent.

Carmakers and the electronics sector were also lower in Tokyo.

In Australia the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.88 percent to 3,394.8 while the S&P/ASX200 was down 0.97 percent to 3,442.8 as the Australian government renewed a ban, originally due to expire next Tuesday, on the short selling of financial shares until it can determine whether the practice contributed to volatility in banking shares in the UK.

The UK ended its ban on short selling last Friday.

Elsewhere in the region the Shanghai Composite was down 0.46 percent to 1,985.02 while the Straits Times Index fell 1.09 percent to 1,704.52, the Kospi was 2.06 percent lower to 1,103.61, the Hang Seng was down 2.9 percent to 12,583.63 and the Sensex dropped 3.53 percent to 8,779.17.

In Taiwan, the Taiex managed a gain of 0.13 percent to 4,247.97.

At just past 1 p.m. in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.22 percent to 8,045.94 while the Nasdaq Composite had added 1.56 percent to 1,463.31 and the S&P 500 had gained 1.47 percent to 817.06.

Banks were up on hopes that US President Barack Obama’s plan to help the economy will rescue banks from their current difficulties.

In afternoon trade, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) was up 11.61 percent while Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was 12.75 percent higher and Citigroup (NYSE: C) had gained 13.39 percent.

Among retailers, however, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) was down 3.74 percent after Credit Suisse issued a downgrade on the company from “outperform” to “neutral”.

Story link: Banks again in focus as RBS adds 21 percent