Miner ANTO leads 100 lower

Most European equities markets saw gains on Tuesday, but London markets were mixed on the session.

The FTSE 250 added 0.19 percent to 6,403.55 but the FTSE 100 dropped 1.05 percent to 3,911.46.

The five biggest losers on the 100 came from the mining and banking sectors, with miner Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) turning in the worst performance of the session with a decline of 8.02 percent, followed by Anglo American (LSE: AAL) and Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ), which dropped 6.66 percent and 6.59 percent respectively.

Most banks were lower, led by HSBC Holdings (LSE: HSBA; NYSE: HBC; Euronext: HSBC; SEHK: 005), which dropped 6.34 percent and Lloyds Banking Group with a decline of 5.69 percent, but Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS; NYSE: RBS PRM) added 1.6 percent on the session.

Friends Provident (LSE: FP) led most insurers higher as it added 6.03 percent, while computer software maker Sage Group (LSE: SGE) gained 3.86 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.18 percent to 740.86 while the CAC-40 added 0.17 percent to 2,874.39, the Dax was 0.26 percent higher to 4,187.36 and the IBEX gained 0.47 percent to 7,989.5.

Most banks were lower on the CAC-40 as BNP Paribas (Eurofirst: BNP; TYO: 8665) led decliners on the index, dropping 5.13 percent, but Credit Agricole managed a gain of 1.72 percent.

Banks were higher on the Dax, however, as Deutsche Postbank (FWB: DPB) was up 2.82 percent, Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) gained 4.5 percent and Commerzbank (FWB: CBK) was up 9.63 percent, while chipmaker Infineon (FWB: IFX; NYSE: IFX) led the index as it added 16.35 percent.

Carmakers and insurers both saw declines on the session.

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

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 3.32 percent to 8,488.3 while the Topix index was up 2.67 percent to 812.72 and the Mothers market of small and mid-caps gained 1.52 percent to 298.17.

Banks were higher again on continuing optimism that the US banking sector will be able to recover as government initiatives to rid their books of bad debt will work, while exporters were helped out by a weaker yen.

Toyota Motor (TYO: 7203; NYSE: TM; LSE: TYT) was up 3.6 percent even though there reports that it will have to revise production plans downward due to sales that have not reached expectations.

Electronics retailer Yamada Denki (TYO: 9831) added 12 percent after it said it is ready to reduce its debt even further after already having redeemed convertible bonds due in 2015.

The Sensex was up 0.5 percent to 9,471.04 while the Shanghai Composite was 0.56 percent higher to 2,338.42 and in Australia the S&P/ASX200 added 0.84 percent to 3,580 while the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.98 percent to 3,517.3.

South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.85 percent to 1,221.7 while the Taiex added 2.3 percent to 5,242.18 in Taiwan, the Straits Times Index was 2.54 percent higher to 1,706.34 and the Hang Seng gained 3.44 percent to 13.910.34.

Wall Street was mixed in early afternoon trade, with very little movement from Monday’s levels as some investors took profits after big gains in New York on Monday.

At just before 1:30 p.m. in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.15 percent higher to 7,787,41 but the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.79 percent to 1,543.51 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.06 percent to 822.46.

At the same time, the biggest gainer on the Dow was General Electric (NYSE: GE), which had added 3.93 percent, while the biggest decline came for General Motors (NYSE: GM), which had dropped 4.78 percent.

Banks listed on the Dow were mixed as Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) added 1.17 percent but JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) was down 0.83 percent and Citigroup (NYSE: C) had dropped 2.24 percent.

The oil sector was also mixed, with Chevron (NYSE: CVX) up 0.84 percent while ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) had dropped 0.28 percent.

Story link: Miner ANTO leads 100 lower