Miner ENRC leads 100 lower

European equities markets were substantially lower Monday after banks declined on a report from US bank Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), which said that quarterly profit was up as a result of its acquisition of Merrill Lynch, but that it also had a large increase in its number of troubled loans.

The FTSE 100 dropped 2.49 percent to 3,9990.86 in London, while the FTSE 250 was 3.98 percent lower to 7,016.68.

Most miners were lower as Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) dropped 12.26 percent as the biggest loser on the 100 amid lower base metals prices, but Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS; NAS: GOLD) led gainers on the 100 as it added 8.4 percent on gains in the price of gold.

Banks were also lower in London, led by Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642), which was down 7.93 percent on the session.

Travel company Thomas Cook Group (LSE: TCG) dropped 11.39 percent while TUI Travel (LSE: TT) fell 8.5 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 3.51 percent to 786.12 while the IBEX fell 3.46 percent to 8,718.2, the CAC-40 was 3.96 percent lower to 2,969.4 and the Dax dropped 4.07 percent to 4,486.3.

There were no winners on the session on the Dax and only one, drug maker Sanofi-Aventis (Euronext: SAN; NYSE: SNY) with a gain of 0.87 percent, on the CAC-40.

Carmakers led declines on the CAC-40 as Peugeot (Euronext: UG) dropped 10.24 percent and Renault (Euronext: RNO) was 10.33 percent lower for the biggest decline of the session in the index, while over on the Dax, truck maker Man (FWB: EDF1) fell 8.6 percent.

In addition, tire maker Michelin (Euronext: ML) dropped 8.55 percent on the session.

Banks seeing declines included Commerzbank (FWB: CBK), which was down 7.83 percent as Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) fell 8.63 percent and Credit Agricole (Euronext: ACA) was 9.17 percent lower.

Stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse (FWB: DB1) turned in the worst performance of the session on the Dax as it dropped 9.69 percent.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was 0.19 percent higher to 8,924.75 while the Topix index added 0.32 percent to 848.3 and the Mothers market gained 2.2 percent to 326.65.

The electronics sector and banks declined while the consumer credit sector fell after lender Promise (TYO: 8574) dropped 14.4 percent on a warning that it will likely lose $1.3 billion in the full year, largely on repayment claims.

Steelmakers saw gains, with Nippon Steel (TYO: 5401) up 4.3 percent and JFE Holdings (TYO: 5411) gaining 6.9 percent on a sector upgrade from “neutral” to “bullish” from Nomura Securities.

Other gainers in the region included the Taiex, which added 0.46 percent to 5,781.66 as the Kospi was up 0.56 percent to 1,336.39, the Hang Seng gained 0.96 percent to 15,750.91 and the Shanghai Composite was up 2.14 percent to 2,557.46.

In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries fell 0.16 percent to 3,722.3 and the S&P/ASX200 was down 0.2 percent to 3,769 while India’s Sensex was 0.4 percent lower to 10,979.5 and the Straits Times Index dropped 1.14 percent to 1,874.85.

In afternoon trade on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.11 percent to 7,878.36 while the Nasdaq Composite was 3.41 percent lower to 1,616.03 and the S&P 500 had dropped 3.71 percent to 837.32.

Banks were lower on worries that they will lose more money to bad loans after Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) said it has set almost $13.5 billion aside to pay for losses on loans.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) has said it has reserved $10 billion for the same purpose.

At just before 2 p.m. in New York, Citigroup was down 18.63 percent and Bank of America had fallen 19.72 percent.

Among other banks, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) was 3.08 percent lower, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) was down 6.67 percent and Wells Fargo had dropped 10.02 percent.

Story link: Miner ENRC leads 100 lower