Retailers KFG, NXT see declines on results

European equities markets were mixed Thursday, as London markets, Frankfurt’s Dax and the IBEX in Madrid up while the Eurofirst 300 and the CAC-40 were slightly lower on the session.

In London, the FTSE 100 added 0.64 percent to 3,925.2 while the FTSE 250 gained 0.17 percent to 6,382.14.

Retailers were lower on a report that UK retail sales dropped 1.9 percent in February, a much greater decline than had been anticipated, and after DIY retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KFG) and clothing retailer Next (LSE: NXT) reported dismal full-year results.

Next was 1.55 percent lower, while Kingfisher dropped 2.32 percent.

Utilities were also down on negative broker comments and after Goldman Sachs issued a downgrade to “sell” for International Power (LSE: IPR; NYSE: IPR), which fell 2.47 percent, while Centrica (LSE: CAN) led the sector lower as it dropped 4.36 percent.

Most banks were higher, led by Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) with a gain of 13.53 percent, while miners led both the 100 and the 250 as Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) added 16.93 percent on the 100 and Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) was up 13.04 percent on the 250.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.03 percent to 743.71 and the CAC-40 dropped 0.05 percent to 2,892.07 while the IBEX added 0.05 percent to 8,076.2 and the Dax was up 0.85 percent to 2,892.07.

Most carmakers were up on the session as Volkswagen (FWB: VOW) added 7.61 percent to turn in the best performance on the Dax while Renault (Euronext: RNO) was up 3.83 percent and Peugeot (Euronext: UG) gained 2.13 percent.

Daimler (FWB: DAI; NYSE: DAI), however, dropped 1.31 percent on the Dax, while steel maker ThyssenKrupp (FWB: TKA; LSE: THK) was down 4.08 percent in the worst performance of the session on the index.

Chipmaker STMicroelectronics (Euronext: STM; NYSE: STM) was the biggest gainer on the CAC-40 as it added 6.8 percent.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher, with only a small and mid-caps index in Tokyo seeing declines in the major markets.

The Nikkei 225 was up 1.84 percent to 8,636.33 in Tokyo, while the Topix index added 1.02 percent to 826.81 but the Mothers market of small and mid-caps dropped 0.67 to 306.62.

Chipmaker Elpida Memory (TYO: 6665) added 18 percent on the news that it will raise ¥46 billion, while Advantest (TYO: 6857; NYSE: ATE) was up 4 percent.

Sony (TYO: 6758; NYSE: SNE) gained 6.8 percent.

Elsewhere in the sector, the Taiex was up 0.75 percent to 5,386.56 while in Australia the S&P/ASX200 added 1.03 percent to 3,646.6 and the Sydney Ordinaries gained 1.13 percent to 3,586.3.

The Kospi was 1.2 percent higher to 1,243.8 while the Shanghai Composite added 3.06 percent to 2,361.7, the Sensex was up 3.47 percent to 10,003.1, the Hang Seng added 357 percent to 14,108.98 and the Straits Times Index gained 3.93 percent to 1,758.79.

At nearly 2:30 p.m. in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.9 percent higher to 7,896.92 while the Nasdaq Composite had added 2.95 percent to 1,574.04 and the S&P 500 was up 1.86 percent to 829.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) was up 11.04 percent on the news that the administration of US President Barack Obama will likely support the carmaker’s bid for more bailout money and after GM said that 7,500 hourly employees, around 12 percent of its hourly workforce, have said yes to early retirement or buyout packages.

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