Miner LMI adds 11 percent

European equities markets were mixed Wednesday, with most gaining or losing just slightly.

In London the FTSE 100 added 0.5 percent to 4,234.26 while the FTSE 250 gained just 0.01 percent to 6,496.28.

Miners led gains on both the 100 and the 250, with sector components taking all five top spots on the 250 and led by Lonmin (LSE: LMI) with a gain of 11.02 percent.

Over on the 100 Randgold (LSE: RRS; NAS: GOLD) turned in the best performance of the day with a gain of 7.7 percent after HSBC (LSE: HSBA; NYSE: HBC; Euronext: HSBC; SEHK: 005) raised its recommendation on the miner from “neutral” to “overweight”.

Banks and insurers, on the other hand, saw declines as Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY) turned in the worst performance of the day on the 100 as it fell 7.9 percent and among insurers Aviva (LSE: AV) was down 3.13 percent and Old Mutual (LSE: OML; JSE: OLOML) dropped 4.15 percent.

After recent gains, consumer lender Cattles (LSE: CTT) was the worst performer on the 250, where it was down 11.43 percent on the session.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.21 percent to 804.28 and the IBEX dropped 0.49 percent to 8,355.8, but the CAC-40 added 0.23 percent to 3,027.72 and the Dax gained 0.54 percent to 4,530.09.

Banks and insurers were lower, with insurer Axa (Euronext: CS; NYSE: AXA) in the worst performance on the day on the CAC-40 with a decline of 7.2 percent.

Among banks in the region, Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) was down 1.8 percent, BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) fell 2.11 percent and Commerzbank (FWB: CBK) dropped 2.65 percent.

Drug maker Sanofi-Aventis (Euronext: SAN; NYSE: SNY) had the best day on the CAC-40 as it gained 8.05 percent while chipmaker Infineon (FWB: IFX; NYSE: IFX) was down 3.8 percent for the worst performance of the session on the Dax

Most markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on the session, but Taiwan’s Taiex and the Straits Times Index each added 1.1 percent, to 4,575.95 and 1,721.97 respectively.

The Shanghai composite was down 0.19 percent to 2,260.82, the Sensex fell 0.3 percent to 9,618.54, and in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.31 percent to 3,418.1 and the S&P/ASX200 was 0.41 percent lower to 3,474.4.

South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.72 percent to 1,190.18 and the Hang Seng dropped 2.46 percent to 13,539.21.

Tokyo’s markets were closed in observation of National Foundation Day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.25 percent in afternoon trade in New York, while the S&P 500 had added 0.24 percent to 829.13 but the Nasdaq Composite was 0.02 percent lower to 1,524.37.

The Nasdaq was hurt by losses for Research in Motion (NAS: RIMM; TSX: RIM), maker of the Blackberry communications device, which was down 17.6 percent at around 2 p.m. in New York on a disappointing forecast.

Banks saw gains, and a just after 2 p.m. JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) was up 3.9 percent while at the same time Citigroup (NYSE: C) had added 6.57 percent and Bank of America (NSYE: BAC) had gained 7.37 percent.

Story link: Miner LMI adds 11 percent