RBS, LLOY lead banks higher

Banks and insurers sent European equities markets higher Thursday as banks led the winners on London, Paris and Frankfurt indexes.

Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS; NYSE: RBS PRM) added 25.54 percent on the FTSE 100 in London even though it reported that it lost £24.1 billion ($34.3 billion) last year, the biggest yearly loss for a company in British history, while Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY) led the 100 with a gain of 30.66 percent ahead of its full-year results, due to be reported on Friday.

Insurers were also higher in London as Old Mutual (LSE: OML; JSE: OLOML) was up 15.76 percent and Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) gained 27.51 percent.

Pubs operator Enterprise Inns (LSE: ETI) was 30.56 percent higher to lead the FTSE 250, followed closely by consumer lender Cattles (LSE: CTT), which was up 20.57 percent.

The FTSE 100 was up 1.73 percent on the session to 3,915.64 while the FTSE 250 added 1.35 percent to 6,123.75.

Elsewhere in the region, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 2.01 percent higher to 730.58 while the CAC-40 added 1.78 percent to 2,744.84, the Dax was up 2.51 percent to 3,942.62 and the IBEX gained 3.99 percent to 7,811.7.

BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) led gainers on the CAC-40 as it added 12.14 percent while Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) was 14.33 percent higher as it turned in the best performance of the day on the Dax.

Meanwhile, Societe Generale (Euronext: GLE) was up 8.86 percent and Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) gained 8.43 percent.

Insurers saw gains as Axa (Euronext: CS; NYSE: AXA) added 8.67 percent and Allianz (FWB: ALV; NYSE: AZ) gained 12.41 percent.

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed, with Tokyo’s results echoing regional trends as the Nikkei 225 was 0.04 percent lower to 7,457.92 as the Topix index fell 0.41 percent to 742.53 but the Mothers market added 2.1 percent to 296.99.

In the semiconductors sector, chip-testing equipment maker Advantest (TYO: 6857; NYSE: ATE) dropped 13 percent after it said it expects to sustain losses of up to ¥78 billion in the current fiscal year and that it will lay off 25 percent of its employees before the end of March.

Tiremaker Bridgestone (TYO: 5108) was down 4.5 percent as the price of oil saw gains, while in the retail sector electronics retailer Yamada Denki (TYO: 9831) fell 5 percent, supermarket operator Aeon (TYO: 8267) dropped 3 percent on a credit rating cut from Moody’s Investors Service, and Seven & I (TYO: 3382) was 1.3 percent lower on the session.

Other decliners in the region included the Hang Seng with a drop of 0.85 percent to 12,894.94.

The Kospi fell 1.15 percent to 1,054.79 while the Shanghai Composite was down 3.87 percent to 2,121.25.

The Straits Times Index was 0.04 percent higher to 1,617.44 while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.48 percent to 3,297.4 and the S&P/ASX200 was up 0.54 percent to 3,345.5.

Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.55 percent to 4,518.56 and the Sensex gained 0.59 percent to 8,954.86 in India.

In early afternoon trade in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.22 percent to 7 286.66 and the S&P 500 was 0.09 percent higher to 765.58, but the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.49 percent to 1,418.48.

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