Insurers LGEN, FP decline in London

European equities markets were lower Tuesday on continuing economic concerns as investors worried about the health of the economy in general and of the financial sector in particular, although banks tended to do well on the session.

The FTSE 100 was 0.89 percent lower to 3,816.44 in London while the FTSE 250 dropped 0.23 percent to 4,905.75.

Insurers were lower on concerns that they will have to raise more capital even though Legal & General (LSE: LGEN), which dropped 3.83 percent, has denied that it is preparing to do so.

Elsewhere in the sector, Friends Provident (LSE: FP) was down 9.84 percent for the worst performance of the session on the 100 while Prudential (LSE: PRU; NYSE: PUK) was down 7.62 percent and Aviva (LSE: AV) dropped 5.06 percent.

Most banks were lower, as well, with Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY) down 5.11 percent, but Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS; NYSE: RBS PRM) added 4.25 percent.

Banks were up in Paris and Frankfurt although markets generally saw declines.

Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) was up 4.25 percent as it produced the best performance of the day on the Dax, while Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) did best on the CAC-40 as it added 4.19 percent.

BMW (FWB: BMW), on the other hand, did the worst on the Dax as it dropped 4.57 percent as carmakers were mostly lower, although truck manufacturer Man (FWB: EDF1) managed a gain of 1.32 percent.

Manufacturer and retailer Saint Gobain (Euronext: SGO) was 9.07 percent lower to lead declines on the CAC-40.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 1.37 percent to 719.38 while the CAC-40 was down 0.73 percent to 2,708.05, the IBEX fell 0.76 percent to 7,483.4 and the Dax was 1.03 percent lower to 3,895.75.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on the session.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was 1.46 percent lower to 7,268.56 while the Topix index fell 0.68 percent to 730.28 and the Mothers market dropped 0.9 percent to 286.72.

Broker Nomura (TYO: 8604; NYSE: NMR; SGX: N33) was down 9 percent after it said it hopes to raise $3.3 billion in a sale of new shares as investors worried that the sale will dilute the value of their shares.

Carmakers saw gains as Toyota (TYO: 7203; NYSE: TM; LSE: TYT) added 2 percent while Honda (TYO: 7267; NYSE: HMC) gained 2.6 percent, but technology stocks were lower on the session.

The Sensex dropped 0.24 percent to 8,822.06 while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries and the S&P/ASX200 each were down 0.58 percent, to 3,285 and 3,331.6 respectively.

The Straits Times Index was 1 percent lower to 1,614.44, the Taiex was down 1.06 percent to 4,430.18, the Hang Seng fell 2.86 percent to 12,798.52, the Kospi dropped 3.24 percent to 1,063.88, and the Shanghai Composite was 4.56 percent lower to 2,200.65.

New York markets were up substantially in afternoon trade after comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Benanke that the recession could be over this year, although he also said that the US economy might continue to contract through the first half of the year.

The comments overshadowed new data from the Conference Board showing that US consumer confidence plunged this month.

At just past 1:30 p.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.06 percent to 7,261.49 while the Nasdaq Composite had added 2.1 percent to 1,416.87 and the S&P 500 ained 2.65 percent to 763.02.

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