Miner KAZ leads winners on FTSE 100

European equities markets were up significantly Thursday as carmakers and some miners saw gains.

The FTSE 100 was up 4.28 percent to 4,134.97 in London, while the FTSE 250 gained 4.21 percent to 6,816.12.

Miners made their presence felt on the 100, taking both the top winning and top losing spot on the index as Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) added 17.37 percent, but Randgold Resources (LSE:RRS; NAS: GOLD) dropped 4.51 percent.

Other miners seeing substantial gains included Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC), which gained 14.6 percent, and Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED), which was up 14.58 percent.

Over on the 250, homebuilders had the best performances of the day as Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV) added 20.22 percent and Taylor Wimpy (LSE: TW) gained 23.4 percent on the session.

Online gamblers didn’t have as good a day of it on the 250 as 888 Holdings (LSE: 888) fell 6.14 percent and Party Gaming (LSE: PRTY) dropped 7.28 for the worst performance on the index.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 4.88 percent to 781.48 while the IBEX added 4.69 percent to 8,334.7, the CAC-40 was 5.37 percent higher to 2,992.06 and the Dax gained 6.07 percent to 4,381.92.

The CAC-40 and the Dax had just one decliner each as France Telecom (Euronext: FTE; NYSE: FTE) fell 0.26 percent and Fresenius Medical Care (FWB: FREG) dropped 0.98 percent.

Steelmakers were higher in Germany as Salzgitter (FWB: SZG) added 12.66 percent and ThyssenKrupp (FWB: TKA; LSE: THK) turned in the best performance on the Dax with a gain of 16.21 percent.

Tire maker Michelin (Euronext: ML) had the best day on the CAC-40 with a gain of 16.55 percent.

The automobile manufacturing sector did very well on the day as Peugeot (Euronext: UG) added 13.73 percent, Renault (Euronext: RNO) was up 13.94 percent, BMW (FWB: BMW) was 14.84 percent higher and Daimler (FWB: DAI; NYSE: DAI) gained 15.64 percent.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region also saw gains, some of them significant.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was up 4.4 percent to 8,719.78, the Topix index added 4.14 percent to 826.69 and the Mothers market gained 1.06 percent to 313.63.

Japanese carmakers were much higher after they reported that sales to US consumers did not drop as much in March as had been expected.

Toyota’s (TYO: 7203; NYSE: TM; LSE: TYT) sales had been forecast to drop by 41 percent, while Honda (TYO: 7267; NYSE: HMC) and Nissan (TYO: 7201; NAS: NSANY) had both been expected to see sales decline by 42 percent, but Honda’s sales dropped 36 percent while Nissan’s sales in the US were down 38 percent and Toyota’s sales fell by 39 percent in the month.

Toyota saw their share price add 5.5 percent while Honda was up 11 percent and Nissan gained 14 percent on the session.

The Shanghai Composite was up 0.72 percent to 2,425.29 while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries added 2.69 percent to 3,622.2 and the S&P/ASX200 was 2.81 percent higher to 3,680.2.

The Taiex added 3 percent to 5,473.78, the Kospi was up 3.54 percent to 1,276.97, the Sensex gained 4.51 percent to 10,348.83, the Straits Times index added 5.94 percent to 1,803.34 and the Hang Seng gained 7.41 percent to 14,521.97.

Wall Street also saw gains in early afternoon trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each adding 3.35 percent at just past 1:30 p.m., to 8,021.65 and 838.27 respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite was 3.48 percent higher to 1,605.58.

The gains came after leaders at the G20 summit said they would put another trillion dollars to work in several areas of endeavor to help reverse the current economic downturn.

Also helping send equities higher was an announcement of changes to rules governing how banks deal with bad assets.

Story link: Miner KAZ leads winners on FTSE 100