BARC leads London banks higher

Equities markets in Europe were mixed Wednesday as London markets saw gains but both the Dax and the CAC-40 were lower on the session.

In London, the FTSE 100 was up 0.85 percent to 3,848.98 while the FTSE 250 added 2.31 percent to 6,042.15.

Banks were higher, led by Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) with a gain of 7.54 percent while Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY) gained 6.49 percent.

Broker ICAP (LSE: IAP) had the best day on the 100 with a gain of 12.35 percent while properties group Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV) led the 250 as it added 13.64 percent.

Vodafone (LSE: VOD; NYSE: VOD; FWB: VOD) was down 2.08 percent after it said it will fire 5 percent of its UK employees while elsewhere in the London sector BT Group (LSE: BT) fell 1.38 percent and Cable and Wireless (LSE: CW) dropped 1.93 percent.

Telecoms were also lower in the rest of Europe as France Telecom (Euronext: FTE) fell 1.5 percent, Swisscom (SWXL: SCMN) was 1.8 percent lower and Telecom Italia (S&P/MIB: TLIT) dropped 4.8 percent.

Continental banks were up along with London’s banking sector as Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) added 5.54 percent, BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) was down 5.21 percent and Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) was 1.43 percent lower.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.47 percent to 716.02 while the CAC-40 fell 0.41 percent to 2,696.92 and the Dax dropped 1.27 percent to 3,846.21 but the IBEX added 0.38 percent to 7,512.1.

Most Asia-Pacific markets were up on the session.

The Nikkei 225 was up 2.65 percent to 7,461.22 while the Topix index added 2.1 percent to 745.62 and the Mothers market gained 1.45 percent to 290.88.

The gains came even though new data showed that Japan’s exports in January were just half of what they were in January 2008, with automobile exports down two-thirds from last year.

Exports from Japan to the rest of Asia fell by 46.7 percent, while exports to China dropped by 45.1 percent.

In addition, the finance minister said yesterday that the government was considering ways it could help markets, possibly including the direct purchase of shares.

Honda (TYO: 7267; NYSE: HMC) added 8.13 percent on the news that it will increase production of hybrid cars, while Nissan (TYO: 7201) was up 9.1 percent and Toyota (TYO: 7203; NYSE: TM; LSE: TYT) gained 4.2 percent.

The weaker yen helped other exporters, with Panasonic (TYO: 6752; NYSE: PC) up 7.6 percent while consumer electronics giant Sony (TYO: 6758; NYSE: SNE) gained 8.1 percent.

The Straits Times Index was up 0.15 percent to 1,616.79 while the Shanghai Composite added 0.27 percent to 2,206.57, the Kospi was 0.3 percent higher to 1.067.08, the Sensex was up 0.91 percent to 8,902.56, the Taiex added 1.43 percent to 4,493.74 and the Hang Seng gained 1.61 percent to 13.005.08.

Australia’s markets were lower as the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.11 percent to 3,281.5 and the S&P/ASX200 was 0.12 percent lower to 3,327.5.

New York’s markets were lower in afternoon trade with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.44 percent to 7245.4 at just past 1:30 p.m. while at the same time the Nasdaq Composite was 1.45 percent lower to 1,420.89 and the S&P 500 had dropped 1.37 percent to 762.51.

Among the factors contributing to the declines was a Labor Department report showing that 2,227 firms let 50 or more employees go in January, sending the number of companies announcing mass layoffs up nearly 50 percent from January 2008.

The mass layoffs continued into February as the National Football League said that 169 employees will be laid off, bought out or have their jobs otherwise eliminated and that the league’s commissioner has had his pay cut by 20 percent.

Additionally, jeweler Zale Corp. (NYSE: ZLC) said it will cut 145 jobs and close 115 locations, sending its shares down 3.42 percent in afternoon trade, while in the tech sector two companies announced a total of about 5,000 layoffs to come.

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