BARC leads London banks higher

Equities markets were higher in Europe and most of the Asia-Pacific region on Monday as banks saw gains on optimism after Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) said it has had a strong beginning to 2009, adding to good reports recently from several other banks.

The FSTE 100 added 2.94 percent to 3,863.99 in London, while the FTSE 250 gained 1.75 percent to 6,270.31.

Barclays led the 100 with a gain of 22.67 percent on its statements that it has done well to start the year out, and on the news that it might sell its iShares fund management unit.

Developers also saw gains in London as British Land (LSE: BLND) added 9 percent on the 100 while Brixton (LSE: BXTN) was up 16.95 percent and SEGRO REIT (LSE: SGRO) was 10.9 percent higher on the 250.

Brixton was helped by comments from Citigroup that it was worth more than its current share price indicates, although Citigroup reiterated its “hold” recommendation on the developer.

Insurers made up 4 of the 5 top decliners on the 100 as Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) fell 1.94 percent, Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) was down 1.97 percent, RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA) was 2.21 percent lower and Old Mutual (LSE: OML; JSE: OLOML) dropped 3.55 percent for the worst performance of the session on the 100.

Directories publisher Yell Group (LSE: YELL) turned in the worst performance on the 250 for the third session in a row as it dropped 5.56 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 2.42 percent to 719.1 while the Dax added 2.3 percent to 4,044.54, the IBEX was 2.82 percent higher to 7,636.9 and the CAC-40 gained 3.18 percent to 2,791.66.

There were no decliners on the CAC-40, where banks led gainers as Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) was up 8.24 percent, BNP Paribas (Euronext: BNP; TYO: 8665) added 9.33 percent and Societe Generale rose the most on the index, gaining 10.59 percent.

Banks seeing gains on the Dax included Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) as it added 4.81 percent while Commerzbank gained 6.73 percent.

The best performer on the session on the Dax was chipmaker Infineon (FWB: IFX; NYSE: IFX), which was 15.96 percent higher, while in Paris rival STMicroelectronics added 4.61 percent.

Fresenius Medical Care (FWB: FREG) turned in the worst performance of the day on the Dax as it dropped 2.94 percent.

The only major exception to gains in the Asia-Pacific region came in South Korea, where the Kospi fell 0.05 percent to 1,125.46.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was up 1.78 percent to 7,704.15 while the Topix index added 2.4 percent to 741.69 and the Mothers market gained 2.98 percent to 293.95.

Banks were higher in Tokyo as Mitsubishi UFJ (TYO: 8306; NYSE: MTU) added 5.3 percent, Sumitomo Mitusi (NYSE: 8316) was up 6 percent and Shinsei Bank (TYO: 8383) gained 17 percent, the biggest one-day gain since its listing on the Nikkei.

Developers also saw gains after a report appeared that the Bank of Japan will buy subordinated debt from banks, raising hopes that developers will be able to borrow cash more easily.

Mitsui Fudosan (TYO: 8801) was up 7.3 percent while Mitsubishi Estate (TYO: 8802) added 7.6 percent and Orix (TYO: 8591), which deals both in property development and corporate loans, gained 9.9 percent.

In Australia the Sydney Ordinaries added 0.08 percent to 3,297.3 while the S&P/ASX200 was up 0.1 percent to 3,348.

The Straits Times Index added 0.56 percent to 1,586.32 while the Shanghai Composite was up 1.15 percent to 2,153.29, the Taiex was 1.51 percent higher to 4,971.32, the Sensex added 2.13 percent to 8,943.54 and the Hang Seng gained 3.6 percent to 12,976.71.

New York markets were mixed in afternoon trade as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.6 percent to 7,339.31 and the S&P 500 gained 1.54 percent to 768.21 but the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.06 percent to 1,430.66.

Banks gained in New York markets after comments Sunday from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said in a television interview that the government’s efforts to help the banking sector could end the recession this year.

US banks also benefited from the Barclays news and from gains in the Japanese financial sector.

At around 2:30 p.m. in New York, JPMorgan Chanse (NYSE: JPM) was up 4.93 percent while Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) had added 7.25 percent, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was 15.8 percent higher and Citigroup (NYSE: C) had gained 39.33 percent.

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